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Abraham Lincoln 

and Constitutional 
Government 



By 

Bartow A. Ulrich 



PART ONE 



Published by Chicago Legal News 



Sold by A. C. McClurg & Co. 






~x 



C O P Y R 1 


1 G 

BY 


H T 


1916 


BARTOW 


A. 


ULRICH 



#"" 



OCT -6 1916 



©CI.A4;389b2 



r 




J DEDICATE This life 
of Abraham Lincoln 
and treatise on constitu- 
tional government to the 
Press Club of Chicago, 
which bears in its hand the 
ever brilliant torch of intel- 
ligence, knowledge and lib- 
erty that enHghtens the 
world and defends the 
rights of the people. 



Part I 
Abraham Lincoln 



Preface vii 



PREFACE. 

There have been so many books, essays, and speeches written 
about the immortal Abraham Lincoln, that one might well ask 
why I should attempt at this late day the difficult task of adding 
one more to the thousands already in existence. In answer I will 
say that whenever I return to the sacred precincts and final rest- 
ing place of one whom I knew and admired in my early years, 
whose imperishable fame and illustrious services never will be 
forgotten, nor whose memory will ever perish from the his- 
tory of the world, I feel impelled to add one more laurel wreath 
to that victorious brow, and to recount a few more cherished 
memories of that useful, unselfish, and patriotic life; and 
above all to show what he accomplished to advance and per- 
petuate constitutional government in the world. 

A thousand years from now, and longer, Springfield and the 
tomb of Lincoln will be the Mecca of countless lovers of liberty 
and justice from all over the world, who will come here to visit 
and express their devotion to the great Mastermind of the Nine- 
teenth Century, who saved the Union during its most perilous 
days, and liberated four million slaves from a degrading bondage. 
This republic and the entire world owe a great debt of gratitude 
for the kindly manner in which, at an early date, Springfield re- 
ceived and appreciated the latent talent of the young, honest, and 
homely man who had the good fortune to make his home there. 
He was fortunate in meeting such friends as John T. Stuart, 
William Butler, Joshua Speed, Lyman Trumbull, O. H. Browning, 
Judge David Davis, Edward B. Baker, and Leonard Swett, all 
of whom aided him greatly in getting a start in life. 

"Everbody in Springfield knew the story of how Lincoln rode 
from New Salem to Springfield on a borrowed horse with a pair 
of old saddle bags, two or three law books and a few pieces of 
nondescript clothing and about $7 in his pocket. Every one knew, 
too, how he found that he could not scrape together $17 for bed- 
room furniture and how his friend Speed offered him half his 
own bed in a room over the latter's store. He and Speed both 
took their meals with William Butler, who was afterwards treas- 
urer of Illinois." 

There may be those who deem it a great privilege to visit the 
tomb of Peter the Great, founder of the despotism of Russia, 
or the tomb of Frederick the Great, founder of the reigning 
family of Prussia, or the tomb of Napoleon, victor in many 



viii Preface 

battles, but I consider Lincoln superior in his achievements for 
the universal good of humanity to any one of these proud and 
overpowering masters of men, and would therefore rather visit 
his than any of their final resting places. 

However, no one will cherish for a moment the idea that the 
immortal Lincoln rests within the dust under his tomb at Oak 
Ridge, for Lincoln still lives. No assassin's knife or pistol can 
harm him now. He lives in the minds and hearts of countless 
millions throughout the nations which encircle the globe, and he 
will continue so to live for many decades to come. His 
deeds live to overcome tyranny and human oppression in this 
and other lands, and to fight their advancement at every step. 
At his call, contained in his immortal words and works, today, 
if needed, a great army of men will arise, as in the days of the 
Civil War, to put down the enemies of freedom and progress. 
God grant that the day may not be near when this call will be 
needed in the land, made sacred by the blood of heroes of the 
Revolution and of the Civil War, yet it may be nearer than we 
know. 

In order to comprehend the lives and characters of Abraham 
Lincoln, George Washington, Oliver Cromwell, Martin Luther, 
Peter the Great, or other world rulers or reformers, one must 
realize and admit that there exists outside the control of man, 
a universal mind, acting above and beyond human foresight, but 
using as instruments suitable personages to accomplish great and 
far-reaching results. In order to gain a certain well-defined ob- 
ject which dominates them, the lives of these men demonstrate, 
or carry out to its legitimate purpose, a principle, thus fulfilling 
the designs of a universal governing power superior to themselves. 
Thus governments are established and religions propagated for 
the advancement, up-building, and regeneration of the world of 
mankind. 

Houston Stewart Chamberlain, in his work entitled "The 
Foundation of the Nineteenth Century," says : "Nature knows 
no greater power than that of one great, strong man." 

When a great ruler, powerful in mind and body, endowed 
with extraordinary ability and character, is born into this world, 
it does not necessarily follow that his parents should be the 
occupants of the palace of an emperor, the owners of the luxuri- 
ous dwelling of a multi-millionaire, or the favorite citizens of a 
populous city, for some of the world's greatest characters have 
been born in simple dwellings, of parents possessing no other 
qualifications to favor them than honesty and respectability. The 
parents of Abraham Lincoln were residents of the humble log 
cabin, now prominent in the history of the United States as the 
birthplace of many celebrated people, its location in the virgin 



Preface ix 



forest near a sparkling river, uncontaminated by the overgrowth 
of humanity. Thus young Lincoln was chosen from the west- 
ern wilds of America. 

"And the Lord said unto Samuel, * * * Fill thine horn 
with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-le-hemite, for 
I have provided me a king among his sons." (And Jesse sent 
and brought to him David, the shepherd boy.) "Now he was 
ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to 
look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him : for this is he." 

When the boundless prairies, the primeval forests, and the 
rushing rivers of the unsubdued West and South had done their 
work in building up physically this future president and emanci- 
pator, when his vigorous and clear intellect was ready to fulfill 
its purpose, he strode bravely into the camp of modern enter- 
prise and civilization, and in a short time became its leading 
spirit. 

Those who considered themselves qualified to hold the place 
of superiority above the masses, and regarded themselves as 
patricians, on account of their birth or their wealth, found in the 
case of this man of humble origin, that he was their superior, 
notwithstanding his lack of advantages and social position in 
early life. They would have barred him out of their clubs, their 
exclusive circles, the halls of congress and the state legislature, 
on account of his want of so-called gentle breeding, but the peo- 
ple, the voters, for whom he acted, soon placed him in the front 
ranks. 

The aristocracy of nature is superior to the aristocracy of 
wealth or imperial grandeur. The phrase, "all men are created 
equal", which is inserted in the Declaration of Independence, 
has been and is a source of annoyance to many in this country 
who would be aristocrats, and especially to those residing in the 
slave states at that time. The wealthy citizens of New York, 
Baltimore, Charleston, Richmond, and Boston, at the time of 
Lincoln, did not consider him their social equal when they first 
met him ; but when they heard his eloquence, became acquaint- 
ed with his character, and knew of his achievements, they re- 
alized that he was a man of great ability and destined to fill an 
important place in his country's history. Originally starting 
with great natural gifts, in their development, he was surpassed 
by few men of his time. 

There ever seems to be in this world a continual controversy 
over the equality, or inequality, of mankind, but a truly noble na- 
ture, reared apart from the corrupting and enervating influences 
of civilization, is often found superior to the child of fortune, 
educated amid the luxury of culture and refinement. Abraham 
Lincoln was the personification of the ideal of personal liberty, 



Preface 



and the equality of all men in the sphere of political rights, under 
the constitution of the United States. No law existed then, or 
exists today, to prevent the election of the people's choice to any 
of the different legislative branches of government, or even to 
the presidential chair. 

In one of Lincoln's addresses to one of the regiments, August 
22, 1864, he said, "I happen, temporarily, to occupy this White 
House. I am a living witness that any one of your children 
may look to come here, as my father's child has. It is in order 
that each one of you may have, through this free government 
which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance for 
your industry, enterprise, and intelligence ; that you may all 
have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable 
human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should be main- 
tained, that we may not lose our birthright — not only for one, 
but for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting for, 
to secure such an inestimable jewel." 

BARTOW A. ULRICH. 

Chicago, Illinois, 1916. 



Contents xi 



CONTENTS. 

PART I. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Preface vii 

Chapter I. 

First meeting with Abraham Lincoln i 

Carl Schurz on Lincoln's personal appearance 3 

Peter Vredenburg's reminiscences 4 

Fourth of July in Heidelberg 4 

Stephen A. Douglas 5 

Lincoln on Temperance 5 

The Little Still-house 6 

Lincoln on the liquor question 7 

The petty practitioners of a petty town 8 

The Lincoln-Shields "Duel" 9 

The Springfield bar 11 

Lincoln's rise from obscurity 11 

Lincoln and Douglas 12 

Horace White's recollections 13 

Personal appearance of Douglas 14 

Lincoln's associates at Springfield 16 

Chapter H. 

Organization of the Republican party 19 

Founded on the Declaration of Independence 19 

State Fair at Springfield, October, 1854 19 

The name "Republican" 20 

Illinois editors and the Nebraska Bill 21 

Editors at Decatur advised by Lincoln 22 

Lincoln declines to be a candidate for office 23 

Pennsylvania editors meet at Pittsburg 23 

Anti-Nebraska convention at Bloomington, 1856 24 

Call for a national convention 25 

First Republican county convention 26 

Resolutions of the Bloomington convention 27 

The "lost speech" 28 

Delegates at the Bloomington convention 29 

The Bloomington ticket 31 

"Deacon" Tyrell 32 



xii Contents 



Republican meeting in Rock Island 32 

"Germans mostly anti-Christians and Republicans" 33 

The national election of 1856 33 

Lincoln's address at Chicago 34 

Anniversary of the Repubhcan party 35 

if ' 

Chapter III. 

Chicago National Republican Convention, i860 37 

Lincoln accepts the nomination 38 

Stephen A. Douglas 39 

Douglas sustains Lincoln 40 

Celebration of the Douglas Centennial in Chicago 42 

Chapter IV. 

Secession cabal at Washington 45 

Jefferson Davis and secession 47 

Graft in the national government 51 

Lincoln's characteristics 52 

Chapter V. 

Events of the war 55 

Fort Sumter 59 

President Lincoln's proclamation calling for troops 59 

The cabinets of Lincoln and Davis compared 61 

Chapter VI. 

Colonel Ellsworth and the Marshall House tragedy 67 

Last reunion of the Ellsworth Zouaves 74 

Poem written at the time of Ellsworth's death 70 

Poem written at the commencement of the civil war 75 

Chapter VII. 

Lincoln's intuition and character 79 

Farewell address at Springfield 82 

First message to Congress, July 4, 1861 82 

Need of preparation 83 

The call for troops 84 

The draft riots 85 

Vallandigham's arrest 86 

Chapter VIII. 

General McClellan and General Grant 89 

Lincoln praises Grant 90 



Contents xiii 



Meade reproved 91 

The kind of whiskey Grant drank good for others 91 

Lincoln again praises Grant 92 

Lincoln's humanity 93 

Chapter IX. 

The Trent affair 97 

The Treaty of Ghent 98 

Lincoln's desire for reconciliation 99 

Thanksgiving proclamation, 1863 100 

The Gettysburg Address 100 

Proclamation of thanksgiving for Union victories loi 

Lincoln's faith in God loi 

National fast day, 1861 102 

Belief in prayer 103 

The question of slavery 104 

Chapter X. 

Influence of West Point on democracy 109 

College training versus the Declaration of Independence. ... no 

Chapter XI. 
Emancipation of the Negro in the United States and other 

countries 117 

Ambition of JeflFerson Davis and other Southern leaders. . . 118 

Northern leaders stood for liberty and union 119 

The nations abolish slavery 120 

Czar Alexander 11. and the emancipation of the serfs 122 

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 124 

Negro Fellowship League celebrates 127 

Reminiscences of the rebel conspiracy to burn Chicago 127 

Chapter XII. 

Thesis on government used as campaign document in 1864. . 129 

The National Republican Convention of 1864 129 

A Lincoln story — "More light and less noise" 130 

The discontented four hundred 131 

Letter to Greeley 131 

Chapter XIII. 
The Presidential Campaign of 1864 — an original campaign 

document 133 

Speech before the Athens Union League 139 

New Year's address, 1865 142 



xiv Contents 



Chapter XIV. 

Last interview with Lincoln 145 

Counting the electoral vote 146 

Lincoln's response to the committee of notification 147 

Chapter XV. 

President Lincoln enters Richmond 149 

Capture of Jefferson Davis 150 

Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln 151 



PART IL CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

Preface i 

Chapter I. 

Comparison of different forms of government 155 

Chapter II. 

Representative democracy 157 

Divine right of kings 160 

Chapter III. 

The imperial trust 163 

Waechter's project of a federation of the states of Europe. . . 165 

The Passing of Royalty 167 

Chapter IV. 

The new representative democracy 169 

Chapter V. 

Events leading to the birth of the nation 175 

Adoption of the Constitution 177 

Powers of the government 178 

De Tocqueville on the American Judiciary 180 

Constituent and law-making power 181 

, Chief Justice Marshall on the judicial power 182 

^^^incoln and the Dred Scott decision 186 

The "grandfather clause" 187 

Cabinet officers and Congress 189 

Power of the executive 192 



Contents xv 






The referendum 192 

The Civil Code of Switzerland 193 

"tability of our Constitution 194 

Part of Washington's Farewell Address 195 

Chapter VI. 

.Criticism on Constitution 197 

State and National Control 200 

Department of Agriculture 201 

Letter of H. D. Sackett on Forest Taxation in the U. S 202 

Mormonism 199 

Conservation applied to children 206 

Limitation of State Constitution 211 

Chapter VII. 

National vs. state sovereignty 213 

Reconciliation 219 

Growth of the South 218 

Chapter VIII. 

Causes which led to the rebellion 221 

Honorable Robert T. Lincoln's letter 223 

.^Abraham Lincoln, loyal to the Constitution 223 

Writ of Habeas Corpus, suspended 225 

Influence of our Constitution 225 

The Holy Alliance and the Monroe Doctrine 227 

Pan-Americanism and the Monroe Doctrine 229 

Origin of the step 230 

Pan-American growth 230 

Mr. Hall on the new Monroe Doctrine argued before Politi- 
cal Science Academy 232 

President Wilson's Latin- American policy 232 

We must not retrograde 233 

Chapter IX. 

The Thirteenth Amendment 237 

The Fourteenth Amendment 238 

The Fifteenth Amendment 240 

The Sixteenth Amendment 241 

The Seventeenth Amendment , 242 

The Proposed Referendum 244 

The Proposed Female Suffrage 244 

The Proposed Federal Control of Child Labor 244 

Hobson's proposed amendment for nation-wide prohibition. . 244 

Resolution to extend suffrage to women 2^5 



xvi Contents 



Chapter X. 

Switzerland 247 

The Swiss federation 248 

Constitution of the Swiss federation 250 

The Swiss confederation 250 

The Landegemeinde 256 

Chapter XI. 

Portugal 261 

Revolution of the 5th of October, 1910, by A. C. Courrage. . 263 
Constitution of Portugal 263 

Chapter XII. 

France, a republic 283 

Constitution of France, 1791 284 

The Brumaire Decree, 1799 285 

Constitution of 1799 286 

Senatus-Consultum, 1804 286 

Napoleon compared to Washington 287 

Louis Napoleon 294 

\ Imperial policy of Louis Napoleon 291 

\ Adolph Theirs on Modern France History 295 

■^The present Constitution 299 

The Civil Code 307 

Arstide Braind — formed a new ministry, 1916 308 

President Poincare predicts end of war 309 

Anniversary of Franco-Prussian War 309 

See new France rising out of war 311 

Chapter XIII. 

Constitution of Norway 315 

Introduction by Peter B. Olson 315 

Other Constitutions. 

China 333 

Japan 336 

German government 339 

Prussia 341 

Ottoman Empire 370 

New Zealand 386 

Iceland 395 

Belgium 397 



Abraham Lincoln 



CHAPTER I. 

MEETING ABRAHAM LINCOLN WHEN I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD AT 
SPRINGFIELD, 1845. LYMAN TRUMBULL, STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, 
GEN. SHIELDS, O. M. BROWNING, MISS JULIA JAYNE AND MRS. 
LINCOLN AT SOCIAL GATHERINGS. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. SKETCHES OF SOME OF LINCOLN'S 
CONTEMPORARIES IN SPRINGFIELD. LINCOLN-SHIELDS DUEL. 
REFERENCES TO LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DERATES BY HORACE 
WHITE, I913. 

When about seven years old I remember Abraham Lincoln 
as one of a number of pohticians and members of the legislature 
in Springfield who visited our home in Second street. This must 
have been prior to his term in the House of Representatives in 
Washington. Among our guests were frequently Stephen A. 
Douglas, Lyman Trumbull, James Shields, and others who 
later became famous. Among the friends of my sisters 
who were at these social gatherings, were Mrs. Lincoln, formerly 
Miss Todd, Mrs. Trumbull, formerly Miss Julia Jayne and Mrs. 
N. W. Edwards, sister of Miss Todd, 

Springfield was very new and primitive in those days. 
There were not many amusements, except the simple ones we 
provided for ourselves. The social gatherings in the home 
gave more pleasure than all the artificially stimulated outside 
entertainment does nowadays. I remember the first time I met 
Abraham Lincoln. It was just such an old-fashioned party 
to which he had been invited at our house. I was a little lad 
and had been sent up to bed before the party began. 

But one of the guests had failed to come, and the company 
wished to dance the quadrille. My sister came upstairs and 
dragged me out of bed to complete the figure of the quadrille. 
I slipped hurriedly into my clothes and crept downstairs, half 
awake, yawning, and not in the best of tempers. Mr. Lincoln 
was leaning against the fireplace in the sitting room. I remember 
that I was particularly impressed by his height. He towered 
above everybody else in the room. 

He had a very charming manner and was really the life of the 
party and made all the guests laugh with his inexhaustible fund 
of stories and anecdotes. His strong face lighted up radiantly 
and he had one of the most agreeable smiles I have ever seen. 
Of course I can't say that his grace of manner can be stretched 



Abraham Lincoln 



to include the way he went through the stately and dignified 
steps of the quadrille. 

Mr. Whitney in his book entitled, "On the Circuit with Lin- 
coln," speaks of Lincoln as having often engaged in social 
sports before he came to Springfield. He took part in the 
games and dances at weddings, husking bees, etc. He says : 

"Mrs. Lincoln was a Miss Todd, born in 1818, being nine years 
Lincoln's junior. She was the daughter of Robert S. Todd. She 
came of an old Virginia family on one side, and had direct 
connection through another line with General Andrew Porter of 
Pennsylvania, a well-known soldier of the Revolution. Miss 
Todd was accomplished in music, dancing, the languages, and 
the arts and refinements of life. Her acquaintance with Lincoln 
began in Springfield and in a short time ripened into friend- 
ship, afifection and love with occasional lapses in favor of Stephen 
A. Douglas and other swains then in vogue at the capital. Miss 
Todd was acquainted with Lincoln for two or three years pre- 
vious to their marriage." He undoubtedly took part with her in 
the social entertainments of the select circle in Springfield where 
there were the usual quadrilles and dances popular at that time. 

That which impressed itself on my memory more than anything 
else was the towering figure of Mr. Lincoln, standing by a man- 
tlepiece in our parlor, with his elbow resting upon it, quietly 
overlooking the guests of the evening. He was rather awkward 
in society. Few realized then that he would become our future 
president and the great character in history into which he devel- 
oped. He possessed a large fund of good humor, and conse- 
quently always was a welcome visitor. He used this gift later 
to great advantage in trying times after he became president. 
When overcome with anxiety, humor was to him a relief and he 
oft^n-.tur^ejd the prevailing gloom into a moment of enjoyment 
by reciting $onie amusing story applicable to the occasion. 

Mr. John Ha,y, and Mr. John G. Nicolay, both of whom I knew 
intij3ia,^^y,ii;;riSpn;t^field, state in their history of Abraham Lin- 
cql^f/ ";|^^^,>y|aa,,,(4ii, i^4S|) still the center of interest of every 
sod]^^!gri9it4P)r}}e>,enwVf^e^?]d, ..whether on the street or in the 
pairlqr. ,'$ere»e,^nQ,-Tt\oiiyi^ft^ oi.itj^piper, cordial and winning of 
langu^ge-^ c\^^itzh\&..3Lfii^^c^^r^.ri^pi^f^yf^'\on, his very presence dif- 
fugQ<i,^.,glQWi of,,?;Qfl.jfi4^fi?-aff4 j^in^ft^^Tj'j Wherever he went he 
leftrjafi.jeyeJTtwid^Ijingrjrifjp^le./gf f^il^^^,, jpst4-,gpd laughter. His 
radiant good fellovi^ship was he\q}i^ylp-^jj^q}\ti^^ opponents and 

of.,^^,,^^e^-ijr^ SisJf»|^? si;r^t,>aR^tPn|^he s|r.^^\ye?e!Fi;;h!ts.jh9rae 
and . liw-, pffi,c^, . p H? al^a,y5 l;wwd; .a,-^jplea^f, wflif 4 -qrg ^r j olf^ [ to- td^t ^ 



Abraham Lincoln 



would light up with a smile. He was six feet, four inches tall, 
and very strong, having developed to a great degree physically 
when young through hard work on the farm and in the forest, 
as well as by his several ventures with flatboats on the Mississippi 
river. This superior prowess and vitality often was not fully 
realized by his opponents until they came into personal contact 
with him. During these days he did not always dress in the 
fashionable style of lawyers like Douglas and Trumbull, and 
often wore a coat which was rather the worse for wear. 

Had Mr. Lincoln employed a good barber and an artistic 
tailor his large strong body, like that of George Washington's or 
Czar Alexander H., would not have seemed so awkward as it 
looked in ready made clothes which did not tit. 

It must have been about this time when moving unostenta- 
tiously among his neighbors and friends, that his mind was oc- 
cupied with the great issues which were pending and which 
would soon bring about the great Civil War with himself as the 
master spirit. It is stated that he said to his partner, Mr. Hern- 
don, whom I also knew : "How hard, Oh, how hard it is to die 
and leave one's country no better than if one had never lived 
in it ! The world is dead to hope, dead to its own death struggle, 
made known by a universal cry ! What is to be done ? Is any- 
thing to be done? Who could do anything? And how is it to be 
done ? Did you ever think of these things ?" 

Abraham Lincoln proved that human intelligence, when used in 
alignment with a higher power in the endeavor to do right, dom- 
inates men and nations. He proved also, like Shakespeare, 
that the great universities of his age had no monopoly in in- 
tellectual achievements. His intuitive understanding of meta- 
physics revealed to him the living divinity in his own breast. 

But I hardly know any better way of describing his personal 
appearance than by quoting from Carl Schurz : 

" 'There he stood, overtopping by several inches all those sur- 
rounding him. Although measuring something over six feet my- 
self, I had, when standing quite near him, to throw my head 
backward in order to look into his eyes. That swarthy face, with 
its strong features, its deep furrows and its benignant, melancholy 
eyes, is now familiar to every American. It may be said that the 
whole civilized world knows and loves it. At that time he was 
clean shaven and looked even more haggard and careworn than 
later, when his face was framed in whiskers. On his head he 
wore a somewhat battered stovepipe hat. His neck emerged long 
and sinewy from a white collar turned down over a thin black 
tie. His lank, ungainly body was clad in a musty black frock coat 
with sleeves that should have been longer, but his arms were so 
long that the sleeves of a store coat could hardh^ have been ex- 



Abraham Lincoln 



pected to cover them all the way down to the wrist. On his left 
arm he carried a gray woolen shawl, which evidently served him 
for an overcoat in chilly weather. His left hand carried a cotton 
umbrella of the bulging kind, and also a black satchel that bore 
the marks of long and hard usage.' " 



PERSON AI, REMINISCENSES NEVER BEEORE PUBLISHED. 

When twelve years old said my old friend, Peter Vredenburgh, 
of Springfield, Illinois, I was present at the trial of a Mr. 
Ross. After the prisoner was brought in Mr. Lanterman ap- 
peared, accompanied by Abraham Lincoln. He seemed to be thor- 
oughly impressed with the seriousness of the case. He took off 
his tall hat, removing from it a large bandanna handkerchief and 
a bundle of papers. He finally addressed the court in a serious 
manner, while the feeling and sympathy he displayed was very 
effective. The way he addressed Mr. Lanterman, the father 
of the girl Mr. Ross had married when he already had another 
wife, and the questions he asked him brought tears to my eyes. 
He said: "Do you know this man (pointing to Mr. Ross) the 
defendant?" The old man replied, "I know him to my sor- 
row." After Mr. Lanterman was through, Mr. Lincoln had 
witnesses to prove the man's name was Ross Dawson and that 
he had another wife living. Ross was convicted of bigamy and 
sent to the pentitentiary for the maximum time. I don't think 
any one in the court was more grieved over the case than Mr. 
Lincoln and his appearance left a lasting impression on my mind. 



CELEBRATION OF FOURTH OF JULY IN HEIDELBERG. 

While Abraham Lincoln was seeking knowledge and educating 
himself under many disadvantages in his rude surroundings, Jef- 
ferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Beauregard and Buckner were being 
thoroughly trained at the expense of the United States at West 
Point, and many of the sons of southern chivalry, in the sunny, 
luxurious South, were being educated by their wealthy parents 
to lord it over and to live off the labor of their inherited, so- 
called slave property, and to regard themselves as the exclusive 
aristocrats of the nation. They were taught to look down with 
contempt upon the poor non-slave holders of their own states and 
to hate the anti-slavery yankees of the North. I myself met sev- 
eral of these buds of southern chivalry while studying at the 
University of Heidelberg, Germany. In 1859 the American stu- 



Abraham Lincoln 



dents there and in adjoining cities celebrated the Fourth of July. 
We chartered a small steamer, put the United States flag at one 
end and the flag of Baden at the other, and steamed up the Necker 
to a beautiful garden and resort on its bank. Toasts and speeches 
were in order. Many ladies and gentlemen, citizens of the United 
States, were invited and were present. The late Judge Henry 
M. Shepard, then a student of Heidelberg, and Frederick W. 
Matteson son of former Governor Matteson of Illinois, also a 
student at Heidelberg, joined in this Fourth of July celebration. 
The German newspapers made some very flattering references 
to the occasion. As it was just previous to the Civil War there 
were two factions in Heidelberg, one representing the South and 
one the North. The young men from the South would not join 
us in our patriotic celebration, but had a dinner by themselves 
at a public house in Heidelberg. Being on friendly terms with 
several of them and before starting with my friends from the 
North, I took a friendly glass of wine with them at the hotel and 
tried to persuade them to join us ; but they declined the invita- 
tion, thus showing the animus of the southern mind and its preju- 
dice against the North. 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS — LINCOLN AND TEMPERANCE. 

I heard Judge Stephen A. Douglas, with whom Lincoln was 
debating the great issues of the day, speak in Springfield. He 
was a short, thickset man, with a large head covered with an 
abundance of black hair which shook like the mane of a lion when 
he was delivering his eloquent address. He was a powerful 
speaker and a well educated man of great natural ability. 

In regard to Douglas, I remember that he smoked a great deal 
and after speaking in public as soon as a favorable opportunity 
presented itself, he would visit a certain grocery store across the 
street from the state house and take a drink of Bourbon whiskey. 
It was customary in those days to sell whiskey in family grocer- 
ies. 

Mr. Lincoln was entirely free from these habits, as there is an 
abundance of proof. February 22, 1842, Mr, Lincoln delivered 
an address before the Washingtonian Temperance Society, Spring- 
field, 111., which is contained in a book giving the speeches and 
letters, 1832-1865, published by J. M. Dent & Co., New York, 
in Everybody's Library, edited by Ernest Rhys. 

He commenced, "Although the temperance cause has been in 
progress for twenty years it is apparent to all that it is just now 
being crowned with a degree of success hitherto unparalleled." 



Abraham Lincoln 



This is a long address and shows Mr. Lincohi's views at that time 
on this vital question. 



THE LITTLK STILL-HOUSE. 

A Sun correspondent asked if it was true as stated in F. F. 
Browne's "The Everyday Life of Lincoln" that in the canvass for 
senator in 1858 Douglas accused Lincoln of "keeping a groggery." 
The mythology of Lincoln, aside from the false quotations which 
are always turning up, seems inexhaustible, and the "groggery" is 
an old figure in it. The Pittsfield Eagle has looked up the Lin- 
coln-Douglas debates again, and finds Douglas at Ottawa Aug. 
21, 1858, protesting that he meant no unkindness to his opponent, 
whom he had known for almost twenty-five years : 

"There were many points of sympathy between us when we 
first got acquainted. We were both comparatively boys and both 
struggling with poverty in a strange land. I was a school teacher 
in the town of Winchester and he was a flourishing grocery 
keeper in the town of Salem." 

Oi course if he kept a grocery in the days of his young man- 
hood, he sold rum. Wet goods were an invaluable source of at- 
traction of custom in the "store." Deacons vended "W. L" or 
whiskey or gin. A grocer, a grog-seller ; but Lincoln speaking 
whimsically in the third person in this same Ottawa debate, de- 
nied that he had ever kept a grocery : 

"The judge is woefully at fault about his early friend Lincoln 
being a 'grocery keeper.' I don't know as it would be a great 
sin if I had been, but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a gro- 
cery anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincoln did work the 
latter part of one winter in a little still-house up at the end of the 
hollow." 

From this little still-house at the end of the hollow grew Doug- 
las's "grocery," which was transformed into a "groggery." It is 
possible enough that Lincoln's "saloon license" exists in facsimile 
as an ornament of saloons. The House that Jack Built is the pro- 
gressive order of the architecture of myth. Our Massachusetts 
contemporary quotes, without naming, a precaution we regret, 
a mythical anecdote begotten of the grocery-groggery myth: 

"In one of the famous debates Douglas accused Lincoln of 
having sold liquor over the bar. Lincoln retorted by saying, 'Mr. 
Douglas is quite right. I did sell liquor over a bar. But while 
I was on the inside selling it, Mr. Douglas was on the outside 
drinking it.' " 



Abraham Lincoln 



So the Lincoln legend-making, or folk-history, goes on. Pos- 
sibly some wag will yet build the little still-house up at the end 
of the hollow, discover it, and get an association to buy it. The 
renewed interest in Lincoln's "liquor license" may indicate that 
he is to figure as a witness against the drys. — [New York Sun.] 



UNCoivN ON the; liquor question. 

Hon. James S. Ewing, former minister to Belgium, said in his 
address on Lincoln in Bloomington, 1899, "I heard Mr. Lincoln 
define his position on the liquor question. This is authentic as 
it came from Mr. Lincoln himself. I am referring to a demo- 
cratic meeting: the committee had placed on the sideboard in 
Judge Douglas's room (probably without his knowledge) a 
pitcher of water, some glasses, and a decanter of red liquor. As 
visitors called, they were invited to partake. Most of them de- 
clined. When Mr. Lincoln arose to go, Mr. Douglas said: 'Mr. 
Lincoln, won't you take something?' Mr. Lincoln said, 'No, I 
thank you.' Mr. Douglas said, 'What ! Are you a member of 
a temperance society?' 'No!' said Mr. Lincoln, 'I am not a mem- 
ber of any temperance society, but I am temperate in this, that 
I do not drink anything.' " 

I remember in Springfield that it was customary on New Year's 
day for the gentlemen to call on the ladies. Many of the ladies 
had wine which they gave to their callers, and the result was that 
before night, many of the gentlemen showed the effect of taking 
too many drinks. It was commonly known among the ladies who 
the gentlemen were who refused wine, also those who refused to 
serve wine, among the latter being my mother who always refused 
to serve wine to callers. It was my impression that Lincoln was 
among those who did not participate. 

Lincoln was a man of the people, all his sympathies and activ- 
ities being exerted towards advocating what he thought was 
right, and to their best interests. Douglas was more of an aristo- 
crat and favored at first the lordly slave holders of the South. 
Lincoln was a born statesman and leader, but he possessed as 
well, a pure and grand character which overtowered every other 
motive in life. It is this character that lives and attracts the ad- 
miration of the world. He would have been a blessing to any age 
or nation. 

Lincoln, like Oliver Cromwell, was a born leader of men, and 
originator of strategic movements in emergencies. He had an 
indomitable will, and was determined to carry out his purposes 
over any and all difficulties. 



Abraham Lincoln 



THE pe;tty practitioners oe a petty town. 

The Hon. James Bryce was mistaken when he stated in his 
introduction to the speeches of Lincoln that "even after Lincoln 
had gained some legal practice there was for many years no one 
for him to mix with except the petty practitioners of a petty town, 
men nearly all of whom knew little more than he did himself." 
When an Englishman, unfamiliar with the conditions that existed 
in Illinois and especially in Springfield at the time of Lincoln, 
would make such a statement it proves that he knew nothing of 
the array of talent and of the university trained minds that gave 
dignity and legal standing to the courts and bar of Sangamon 
County at the time of Lincoln. 

Otherwise, the introduction by the eminent diplomat and 
author, whose "American Commonwealth" I have read and stud- 
ied with benefit, is very interesting and truthful. 

Mr. Whitney in his book on "Life on the Circuit with Lincoln" 
says : "that in the lower house of the Illinois Legislature there 
were many men of both political parties who afterward became 
distinguished in the political history of the state. Among them 
may be mentioned Lyman Trumbull, John J. Hardin, William H. 
Bissell, afterward Governor of Illinois, Edward D. Baker, John 
T. Stewart, William H. Richardson, Lewis W. Ross, Robert 
Smith, Samuel D. Marshall, James Semple and James Shields. In 
fact, the Springfield bar of those days numbered among its mem- 
bers many men of more than common ability. Some of the names 
were soon familiar to the whole country. It was not because his 
competitors were few and weak that Lincoln attained the first 
rank as a lawyer, but because he had to fight his way against men 
in every way capable of testing his powers to the utmost, and 
men who had far superior advantages in education than he had 
received." 

Many of these men subsequently became members of Congress. 

The Hon. Schuyler Colfax states in his reminiscences of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, Chapter X, in the book published by Allen Thorn- 
dyke Rice, that he (Lincoln) "in the frequent law contests at the 
bar waged with men who afterwards attained brilliant distinction 
in law and politics and in eloquence, in the sharp antagonism of 
debate with one of the ablest and most adroit of American stump 
speakers. Judge Douglas, he was intellectually armed and equipped 
for the responsibilities by which he was to be environed in the 
dark and perilous times of the Civil War." 

Leonard Swett states in the same book published by Allen 
Thorndyke Rice, that for eleven years Lincoln and himself trav- 
eled the eighth judicial circuit in Illinois and tried suits together 
or opposed to each other. Leonard Swett was a highly educated 



Abraham Lincoln 



man who attended North Yarmouth Academy and Waterville 
College, Maine. He read law with Messrs. Howard and Shepley 
at Portland, Maine, was volunteer soldier in the Mexican War 
and at its close settled in Bloomington in 1848. The bar of that 
circuit embraced many men of marked ability, including David 
Davis, judge of the Superior Court and senator of the United 
States, Edward D. Baker, member of congress from Sangamon 
district; David W. Voorhees. Stephen T. Logan, John T. Stuart, 
and U. F. Linder, with all of whom Abraham Lincoln came into 
contact during his practice of law. 

John T. Stuart, who was at one time the law partner of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, was born November 10, 1807. He was of Scotch 
Irish descent, and his father was a Presbyterian minister. He was 
graduated from Centre College, Kentucky, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1826. He maintained a high place in his profession 
which he held actively for sixty years. He was elected to the 
legislature in 1832 and 1836; elected to congress against Stephen 
A. Douglas in 1838, and held office two terms ; he was then elected 
state senator, 1848 to 1852, and again elected to congress in 1862. 
Mr. Stuart first met Lincoln during the Black Hawk War. He 
subsequently induced him to study law, lent him the necessary 
books, and afterwards took him into partnership in his law firm, 
which lasted until April, 1841. 



THE LINCOI.N-SHIELDS "duel" 

James Shields, while auditor in Springfield in 1837, challenged 
Abraham Lincoln to fight a duel, which, at the time, created a 
great deal of excitement in Springfield. He objected to some 
articles he claimed Lincoln had written reflecting upon his charac- 
ter. He was a prominent member of the social circle in Spring- 
field and quite a beau among the ladies. A full account of this 
duel can be found in the interesting book "Life on the Circuit 
with Lincoln" by Henry C. Whitney, who gives a very vivid pic- 
ture of the circle of acquaintances in which Lincoln moved as a 
prominent character. 

When James Shields, afterward a senator from three states 
and a general in two wars, when a young man in Springfield, de- 
manded the author of a clever pasquinade written by two ladies 
who afterwards severally became Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Trum- 
bull, Lincoln promptly caused himself to be announced as the 
responsible party, and when the duel was forced upon him, he 
rehabilitated the injured honor of the gallant suitor by unhes- 
itatingly accepting. 

Lincoln carefully and methodically put himself in training and 



10 Abraham Lincoln 



wrote out the following "instructions" for the guidance of his 
second, Dr. Merriman : 

1. Weapon: Cavalry broad sword of the larger size, precisely 
equal in all respects, and such as are now used by the Cavalry 
Company of Jacksonville. 

2. Position : A plank ten feet long and from nine to twelve 
inches broad, to be firmly fixed on edge on the ground as the line 
between us, which neither is to pass his foot over upon forfeit 
of his life. Next a line drawn on the ground on either side of 
said plank and parallel, each at the distance of the whole length 
of the sword, and three feet additional from the plank; and the 
passing of his own line by either party during the fight shall be 
deemed a surrender of the contest. 

3. Time : On Thursday evening at five o'clock, if you can 
get it so ; but in no case to be at a greater distance than Friday 
evening at five o'clock. 

4. Place: Within three miles of Altcu, on the opposite side 
of the river, the particular spot to be agreed upon by you. 

5. Any preliminary detail coming within the above rules you 
are at liberty to make at your discretion. 

Lincoln said to Linder, "I didn't want to kill Shields and felt 
sure I should disarm him, having had about a month to learn the 
broad sword exercise : furthermore, I didn't want the damned 
fellow to kill me, which I rather think he would have done if we 
had selected pistols." 

James Shields was born in 18 10 in Tyrone County, Ireland, 
emigrated to America in 1826. practiced law in Kaskaskia, Illi- 
nois, 1832. elected to the Legislature in 1836, state auditor 1837, 
judge of Superior Court, 1843, Brigadier-General United States 
Army 1846, served under General Zachary Taylor and General 
Winfield Scott ; was L^nited States senator from the state of 
Minnesota 1858-1860, governor of Oregon Territory 1848. In 
the Civil War Brigadier-General 1862, head of division-General 
Nathaniel B. Banks, Army of the Shenandoah Valley; resigned 
March, 1863 and settled in Carrolton, Missouri, Member of leg- 
islature 1 874- 1 879. 

The statue of Gen. James Shields, first United States senator 
from Minnesota, which has been placed in a niche in the rotunda 
of the state capitol, was unveiled in the presence of nearly 400 
persons, says the Journal, including members of the Loyal Legion 
and the G. A. R., who supplied the fund for the statue, state 
officials and friends of the Shields family. 

Lieut. Samuel Appleton, state commander of the Loyal Legion, 
formally presented the statue to Gov. A. O. Eberhart, represent- 
ing the state, and the Governor responded. Misses Ellen and 



Abraham Lincoln 11 



Florence Shields of St. Paul, grandnieces of General Shields, un- 
veiled the bronze effigy of the soldier and statesman. 

A close study of the speeches of Abraham Lincoln during his 
contests with Stephen A. Douglas will show what a thorough 
knowledge he possessed of the great questions which attracted the 
attention of the people of his time. They show the immense 
amount of material he had collected from every available source 
bearing upon the questions at issue. 



the; SPRINGFIELD BAR. 

Mr. William O. Stoddard, one of Lincoln's historians says : 
"The Springfield bar in those days numbered among its members 
many men of more than common ability. There were some in- 
deed whose names were soon to be familiar to the whole country. 
It was not therefore because his competitors were few and weak 
that Lincoln advanced to the foremost position as a sound and 
able lawyer. From the outset he was compelled to fight his way 
against men in every way capable of testing his powers to the 
utmost, and there was none of them whose apparent educa- 
tional advantages had not been greater than his own." Although 
Lincoln did not have the advantages of many of those with whom 
he came in contact, he quickly grasped and obtained knowledge 
from every available source, not only from books, but from asso- 
ciation with men of superior talent and education, especially 
when in Springfield and while traveling the eighth judicial cir- 
cuit of Illinois who became prominent in later years. 

Abraham Lincoln was not only a remarkable character, but he 
was the result of the immediate incidents of the times surround- 
ing him. He was carried forward on the crest of a great wave 
of popular revolution and was its controlling spirit. 



LINCOLN S RISE FROM OBSCURITY. 

From the time he delivered his now world-famous speeches in 
opposition to Judge Douglass, who was aiming for the presidency 
and who favored the extension of slavery into the Territories, 
1854 until the surrender of Richmond in 1865, eleven years, a 
startling change in the history of the United States was brought 
about by him, in co-operation with the loyal people of the country. 
The democratic party, at first all-powerful on both sides of Mason 
and Dixon's line, was swept out of power, — slavery so strongly 
intrenched in the South and boldly threatening to encroach upon 
the North was absolutely obliterated, the defiant southern slave 



12 Abraham Lincoln 



aristocracy was forced to submit or be utterly destroyed in person 
and property, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued and the 
United States Constitution itself revised to conform to the very 
ideas and principles of Lincoln, as set forth in 1854-1860 when he 
was scarcely known outside of Illinois. 

Here was a man who came from comparative obscurity, born 
in a log cabin in the forest of the then far West, with no cultured 
parents to train him excepting the good influence of his step- 
mother, or give him the advantages of a liberal education, and 
who, by applying himself with earnestness to study with scarcely 
any outside help, continually mastering useful information gained 
from every available source including the law, finally rose above 
the rude environment of his early days and at last accomplished 
the great object of his life, for which he firmly believed he was 
destined by his heavenly Father whom he always reverenced and 
in whom he had boundless faith. 



UNCOLN AND DOUGLAS. 

I well remember the excitement in politics about the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill advocated by Douglas, who was scheming to be 
elected president and wished to gain the support of the South, the 
talk about state sovereignty, the slave question, and the Dred 
Scott decision. A close study of the speeches of Abraham Lin- 
coln during his contest with Judge Douglas will show that he was 
thoroughly informed as to the history of his country and the great 
principles underlying our representative democracy. He severely 
criticised the decision of the Supreme Court and was not afraid 
to arraign Chief Justice Taney before the bar of public opinion. 
He said, "the sacredness that Judge Douglas throws around this 
decision is a degree of sacredness that has never been thrown be- 
fore around any other decision. Chief Justice Taney insists that 
negroes are no part of the people who made, or for whom was 
made, the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the 
United States. On the contrary Judge Curtis in his dissenting 
opinion shows that in five of the then thirteen states free negroes 
were voters." 

The election of Lincoln in i860, for whom I voted in 1864, was 
a protest against the Supreme Court decisions in the Dred 
Scott case. The result was that slavery was never extended into 
the Territories, and this famous decision was practically an- 
nulled by the will of the majority carried out through Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Referring to Douglas's speeches, he said: "He doesn't care 
whether slavery is voted up or voted down in the territory. If it 



Abraham Lincoln 13 



is wrong he cannot say that the people have a right to do wrong. 
It is the eternal struggle between these two principles, right and 
wrong, throughout the world. The one is the common right of 
humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same 
spirit that says, you toil and work and earn bread and I'll eat it. 
No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of 
a king, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving 
another race, it is the same hypocritical principle." 

When Judge Stephen A. Douglas, and later, other prominent 
advocates of slavery came in contact with his master mind, which 
by its own efforts had acquired a vast fund of legal and politi- 
cal information, they were resisted and overpowered in a manner 
not expected. 

He advanced step by step, at first arguing the case with Douglas 
with the people listening; then, after election defining the position 
of the seceding states, and finally forcing them to yield and un- 
willingly accept his position. 

Stump speaking was then customary and the woods near Spring- 
field often reverberated with oratory delivered on stumps in the 
groves near Springfield and at the County Fair, slavery and state 
rights being the chief subjects. There were no questions to be de- 
bated then concerning great trusts, there was no Standard Oil 
company, Steel or Tobacco trust, multimillionaires who tried to 
control the money market, nor national banks, but we had plenty 
of wild cat currency, good one day, of no account the next. 

Messrs. Nicolay and Hay state in their history of Lincoln : "In 
1838 wheat was 50^* a bushel, rye was 35^, corn and oats 25^, 
butter was 8^ a pound, and eggs were 8<f; a dozen and pork was 
21/2^ a pound." Eggs and butter were plentiful and cheap in 
those anti-bellum times and there were few large cold storage 
warehouses where goods could be accumulated to accommodate 
large combines. We had a stage coach with two or four lively 
horses, and Lincoln had to use these or a horse and buggy when 
making the circuit to try law cases. There were no aeroplanes 
or automobiles, and few railroads. There were no great monop- 
olies ; every man had an even chance in business, the worst cloud 
on the horizon being the slave question, and Lincoln and Douglas 
were hard at work thrashing out the pros and cons of this 
problem. 



WAR TIME WRITER TELLS OE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. 

Fifty-six years ago Horace White reported for The Tribune 
the epoch making debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen 
A. Douglas. Recently, before an audience of old and young 



14 Abraham Lincoln 



at the Chicago Historical society, Mr. White, who has been in more 
recent years a famous New York editor, retold the story of the 
politics that made Lincoln president and cost the 'Xittle Giant" 
the honor. 

More than half a century of reflection has mellowed Mr. 
White's views of the political struggle, but his memory is unim- 
paired. His descriptions proved that age has not withered his 
"nose for the news," but he was able to editorialize to an extent 
probably not permitted by his editorial superiors even in those 
bitter days. 

In leading up to his description of the debates, Mr. White 
sketched the growth of slavery in America, and the incidents lead- 
ing up to the repeal of the Missouri compromise. Lincoln he 
described as having served one term in congress and little known. 
Douglas was the reverse, "his advance being so rapid that it 
seemed as if he had only to ask to be given his choice at the hands 
of his fellow citizens," as Mr. White described him. {Chicago 
Tribune, Feb. /j, 1913-) 

DOUGLAS UKE A LION. 

"Douglas had a large head surmounted by a mane, giving the 
impression of a lion about to roar or devour its prey," continued 
the speaker. "He was but 5 feet 4 inches in height, but he earned 
the title of the 'little giant.' He was probably the biggest man in 
the United States, but he was color blind to the moral principles 
of slavery. 

"Lincoln was then in Springfield, a lawyer, with a far from 
hicrative practice, but possessing a great reputation as a story tell- 
er. He was first of all a politician, using the word in its best sense. 
But for the repeal of the Missouri compromise he probably would 
have remained a country lawyer, riding the central Illinois circuit 
and entertaining tavern loungers with funny stories. He would 
have been unsung and unheard of. But he believed the country 
could not exist, half free and half slave, and he told some friends 
so, but was advised to keep his views quiet." 

The seven joint debates of 1858 were but a continuation of 
discussions by the same "champions" in 1854, and Mr. White is 
believed to be the only living man who heard all these famous 
efforts. 

HOOTED DOWN IN CHICAGO. 

"Douglas came home to Illinois in 1854 to defend his course in 
the Nebraska bill." Mr. White continued, "and spoke in Chicago, 
feut he was practically hooted from the platform. He spoke at 



Abraham Lincoln 15 



Springfield, and the following day Lincoln replied in the same hall 
and in Douglas's presence. It was a great speech and the first 
that gave a true measure of his ability. I was then 20 years of 
age, and the impression I received was overwhelming. That im- 
pression has lost nothing by the passage of time. Lincoln was 
then 45, and at the maturity of his powers. 

"Between 1854-58 came the war in Kansas and the birth of 
the Republican party. Seward, Greely, and other eastern Repub- 
lican leaders advised joining forces to re-elect Douglas to the 
senate, but_ the Illinois forces, feeling they knew Douglas better, 
were working for Lincoln. 



CHALLENGE COMES FROM LINCOLN. 

"The debates were the result of a challenge by Lincoln. Doug- 
las's forces were against acceptance, not because they thought he 
would be worsted by Lincoln, but because his great fame would 
draw thousands who would otherwise never hear Lincoln. But 
the challenge was accepted, though limited to seven debates. All 
were held at the open air. 

"The first meeting was held at Ottawa on August 21 with im- 
mense attendance. 

"Douglas opened with his remarkable fluency that covered 
many rocks and quicksands, and attacked Lincoln's stand that the 
government could not exist half free and half slave. 'Didn't 
Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Jay in drawing the con- 
stitution leave each state free to choose?' he asked. He ended in 
a whirlwind of applause and Lincoln started in. Lincoln had a 
high pitched falsetto voice that resembled the pipe of a boat- 
swain's whistle, and he often had to stop for repairs in the middle 
of a sentence. Both mind and body worked more slowly than 
in Douglas's case. No one ever caught Douglas napping and he 
was quick as a flash in answering questions and making his in- 
terrupters feel their inferiority. 



EARNESTNESS WINS HEARERS. 

"What Lincoln lacked in mental agility he made up in moral 
force and earnestness, and he responded to Douglas's attacks by 
saying the 'Little Giant's' arguments were 'a specious and fantas- 
tic array of words by which a man might prove a horse chestnut 
to be a chestnut horse.' 

"Six days later they met at Freeport in the most famous debate 
of the seven because of the question put by Lincoln to Douglas 



16 Abraham Lincoln 



as to the powers of the people of a territory to exchicle slavery 
from their borders and Douglas's remedy of local police regula- 
tion and popular sovereignty. Although Douglas's answer at 
Freeport cost him the presidential nomination, two years later it 
saved him the senatorship." 

The third debate was at Jonesboro. In "Egypt." where Repub- 
lican votes were always recorded as "scattering," Mr. White said 
the attendance was small, but Lincoln "demolished" his op- 
ponent's Freeport speech. Then came the fourth meeting at 
Charleston, Coles county. The fifth was at Galesburg, the sixth at 
Qnincy, and the last at Alton. 

"Douglas did not make an engaging picture in the debates," 
said Mr. White, "but he won according to the rules of the game. 
Douglas had a majority of three in the senate and five in the 
house, but Lincoln had a popular plurality of more than 4000. 
Providence directed events better than we could have done. Had 
Douglas lost the senatorship he would not have had the strength 
to split the Democratic party. Had Lincoln been elected senator 
he probably would not have been nominated for the presidency. 

"Douglas's day of glory came later when Sumter was fired on 
and he aligned himself with Lincoln and came home to hold the 
state in the L'nion. I heard him address the legislature, and I 
cannot conceive that Demosthenes. Patrick Henry, or any other 
orator could have surpassed his remarkable outburst of passion, 
perspiration, and patriotism and his tremendous earnestness. He 
was the only man who could have held the southern counties of 
Illinois for the union, and he did it." 



THERE WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS. 

Whitney, in his "Life on the Circuit with Lincoln" says: 
"While Mr. Lincoln was not profoundly versed in black letter, 
or yet case law, still he effectively met the best of the profession, 
at first in fourteen and thereafter in eight different counties, as 
well as the several circuit riders. In his own county he was an- 
tagonized by Logan, Stewart, Edwards, Lamborn, Broadwell, 
Baker and Hay ; in Shelby he was confronted by Anthony, Thorn- 
ton, and Samuel W. Moulton ; in Macon County, by Richard J. 
Oglesby, Benedict, Brower, Bunn, and Seth Post fin Coles County, 
by General Linder, and O. B. Ficklin : in Danville, by Oliver L. 
Davis, John J. Brown, and Isaac P. Walker; in Clinton, by Clif- 
ton H. Moore, and Solomon Lewis : in Bloomington, by Gridley, 
Judge Scott, William H. Hannah, Amos McWilliams and Win- 
kezer; in Mt. Pulaski by Samuel C. Post and in Champaign by 
William J. Cowers; while, generally, in the later days on the 



Abraham Lincoln 17 



circuit, Leonard J. Swett antagonized him in most of the cases 
of importance in all courts." 

"There were giants in those days. Those were great men, in 
fact three of them were at times supreme judges, four of them be- 
came congressmen, three United States senators, and one a gover- 
nor. Two or three of them were among the best lawyers in the 
state, or any other state." 

Abraham Lincoln, was a man who stood up and boldly executed 
the laws and compelled obedience to a government organized by 
the people, for the people. 

Though continually surrounded by scheming and treacherous 
politicians, corrupting and perverting the legislative and judicial 
branches of the government in order to foster and perpetuate slav- 
ery in the United States he rose above and overpov,?ered all his 
opponents, and after a bitter struggle against opposition and seem- 
ingly insurmountable difficulties, struck the shackles from the 
slave and left the nation, in fact as well as in name, a nation of 
free men. He not only gave liberty to the negro, but he gave 
a more enduring freedom to every living and every future citizen 
and inhabitant of our great republic, if not of the world. 

As Abraham Lincoln grew in physical proportion and strength 
externally, his inner consciousness, his mental and spiritual being, 
was developing rapidily under his own self-culture and masterful 
endeavor to become a well-informed citizen of this great republic. 
Step by step he mounted upward until he was able through his 
studious investigation of the laws and history of the political is- 
sues of the day, to meet and overcome some of the greatest or- 
ators and politicians of his day. 



Abraham Lincoln 19 



CHAPTER II. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LINCOLN'S NOMINA- 
TION — Douglas's nomination — Lincoln's election — 

DOUGLAS STANDS BY THE UNION AND ADVISES OTHERS TO DO 

SO APRIL 2^, ANNIVERSARY OF DOUGLASES BIRTHDAY THE 

REPUBLICAN PARTY FOUNDED ON THE DECLARATION OF INDE- 
PENDENCE. 

On October 15, 1854, a mass convention of the anti-Nebraska 
men, was held at Springfield, when the following resolution was 
adopted: "First, resolved, that we believe this truth to be self- 
evident, that when parties become subversive of the ends for 
which they are established, or incapable of restoring the govern- 
ment to the true principles of the Constitution, it is the right and 
duty of the people to dissolve the political bonds by which they 
may have been connected therewith, and to organize new parties 
upon such principles and with such views as the exigencies of the 
nation may demand." 

BEGINNING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY A MEMORABLE GATHERING. 

The following is copied from a pamphlet published by William 
A. Meese, Moline, Illinois. 

The first state fair was being held at Springfield during the time 
the above convention was in session, and the 4th of October had 
been advertised as the day when Senator Douglas and others 
would speak. Rumor was current that both Judges Breese and 
Trumbull would be there to answer Douglas. There was a large 
attendance from all over the state. Senator Douglas arrived but 
Breese and Trumbull failed to appear. Abraham Lincoln, who 
was present, consented to discuss the questions of the day with 
Mr. Douglas. This was the first measuring of strength of the 
two master minds, who had such a large part in shaping the future 
destinies of this country. The debate was held in the hall of rep- 
resentatives. Mr. Lincoln opened the discussion in a speech of 
two hours. 

He (a Whig) claimed to be national in his views; was opposed 
to disturbing slavery where it existed in the states ; would sustain 
an efficient slave law, because of the clear grant of power in the 



20 Abraham Lincoln 



constitution for the recovery of fugitives from labor; believed 
that congress had power, and should exercise it, to prohibit slavery 
in the territories, citing the ordinance of 1787. He also took 
the broad ground derived from the Declaration of Independence, 
that the white man had no right to impose laws upon the blacks 
for their government without their consent ; and concluded with a 
vigorous attack upon Douglas personally, taking as his text the 
celebrated apostrophe of that gentleman in 1849, that the 
Missouri compromise was canonized in the hearts of the American 
people, which no ruthless hand could dare to be reckless enough to 
disturb. He spoke with singular power, and being deeply moved 
himself, carried his audience with him step by step in rapt atten- 
tion, by his eloquence, until his argument broke like a sun over 
their understanding. Mr. Lincoln's speech was heartily endorsed 
by the convention. 

Mr. Douglas in answer, showed that the principle of legislation 
in the adjustment measures of 1850, supported by patriot whigs 
and democrats alike as a finality, was precisely the same as that 
embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and that the insertion of 
the words declaring the Missouri line inoperative and void by a 
southern whig, was mere surplusage, and did not change the legal 
efifect at all ; that aside from these words the act was the same in 
its grant of legislative powers as that of Utah and New Mexico, 
which had met the approbation of all parties except ultra abolition- 
ists. The argument of his adversary, his friends claimed, was 
met, point by point, repelling his assaults and exposing his 
sophistry in a scathing and triumphant manner, as only the 'Little 
Giant,' with his ready powers of debate, of all men in America 
could have done, carrying conviction home to the minds of his 
hearers until their pent up enthusiasm knowing no bounds, burst 
forth in ringing applause from a thousand throats. 



THE NAME REPUBLICAN. 

Who first suggested the name Republican for the anti-Kansas- 
Nebraska partisans is not definitely known, but on March 29th, 
1854, Major Alvin E. Bovay of Ripon, Wisconsin, wrote to the 
New York Tribune, urging Horace Greeley to recommend this 
name for the new party that it was proposed to form. The first 
state convention to adopt the name republican was that of Michi- 
gan at Jackson on July 6th, 1854. Wisconsin followed July 13th, 
and Vermont adopted the name the same day. 



Abraham Lincoln 21 



THE FIRST CALL. 
There seems to have been a general understanding for a united 
effort to organize a national anti-slavery party, for we hear of 
gatherings being called at or about the same time in various states. 
In this state credit is due to a newspaper man. 

Some time before the holidays in December. 1855, Paul Selby, 
then editor of "The Morgan (now Jacksonville) Journal," for- 
merly a Whig paper, but then an independent, published an article 
in which he called for a meeting of the anti-Nebraska editors of 
Illinois for the purpose of agreeing upon a campaign for the fol- 
lowing year. The following is the article published: 

"All editors in Illinois opposed to the Nebraska bill are re- 
quested to meet in convention at Decatur, Illinois, on the 22d of 
February next, for the purpose of making arrangement for the 
organization of the Anti-Nebraska forces in this state for the 
coming contest. All editors favoring the movement will please 
forward a copy of their papers containing their approval to the 
office of The Illinois State Chronicle, Decatur." 

This call was published in and endorsed by the following news- 
papers : 

The Morgan Journal, Jacksonville. 

The Chronicle, Winchester. 

The Illinois State Chronicle, Decatur. 

The Quincy Whig, Ouincy. 

The Gazette, Lacon. 

The Pike County Free Press, Pittsfield. 

The Tribune, Chicago. 

The Staats Zeitung, Chicago. 

The Republican, Oquawka. 

The Republican, Peoria. 

The Prairie State, Danville. 

The Advertiser, Rock Island. 

The Fultonian, Fulton, Vermont county. 

The Journal (German), Freeport. 

The Beacon, Freeport. 

The Pantagraph, Bloomington. 

The True Democrat, Joliet. 

The Telegraph, Lockport. 

The Gazette, Kankakee. 

The Guardian, Aurora. 

The Telegraph, Dixon. 

The Gazette, Waukegan. 

The Chronicle, Peru. 

The Advocate, Belleville. 

The Journal, Chicago. 

The Journal, Sparta. 



22 Abraham Lincoln 



EDITORS MEET. 

The editorial convention met at Decatur February 22, 1856. 
A severe snowstorm which fell the night before had blockaded 
many of the railroads. Mr. Paul Selby in his account of this 
meeting said : 

"The early arrivals included Dr. Charles H. Ray of the Trib- 
une and George Schneider of the Staats Zeitung, Chicago : V. Y. 
Ralston of the Quincy Whig; O. P. Wharton of the Rock Island 
Advertiser ; T. J. Pickett of the Peoria Republican ; E. C. 
Daugherty of the Register, and E. W. Blaisdell of the Republican, 
Rockford ; Charles Faxon of the Princeton Post ; A. N. Ford of 
the Lacon Gazette; B. F. Shaw of the Dixon Telegraph; W. J. 
Usrey of the Decatur Chronicle, and Paul Selby of the Morgan 
Journal." 

An organization was effected with Paul Selby as chairman and 
Mr. Usrey as secretary, while, according to its official report, 
Messrs. Ray, Schneider, Ralston, Wharton, Daugherty and Pick- 
ett were appointed a committee on resolutions, and Messrs. 
Faxon, Ford and Shaw on credentials. 

The most important work of the convention was done through 
its committee on resolutions. Abraham Lincoln was present and 
was in conference with this committee, and it is claimed he dic- 
tated the policy of the convention. 

The platform, while disavowing any intention to interfere in 
the internal affairs of any state in reference to slavery, protested 
against the introduction of slavery into territory already free, or 
its further extension ; demanded the restoration of the Missouri 
compromise ; insisted upon the maintenance of the doctrine of 
the Declaration of Independence as essential to freedom of 
speech and of the press, and, "it recognizes freedom as the rule, 
and slavery as the exception, made and provided for as such, and 
that it nowhere sanctions the idea of property in man as one of 
its principles ;" declared in favor of the widest toleration in mat- 
ters of religion and for the protection of the common school sys- 
tem, which was a protest against "Know-Nothingism," which had 
swept over the country during the preceding two years, and con- 
cluded with a demand for "reform in the administration of the 
state government" as second only in importance to slavery exten- 
sion itself. O. P. Wharton, of the Rock Island Advertiser, was 
one of the nine men who drafted the resolutions. 

A state central committee consisting of the following gentle- 
men was appointed : 
First District — S. M. Church, Rockford. 
Second District — W. B. Ogden, Chicago. 



Abraham Lincoln 23 



Third District— C. D. A. Parks, Joliet. 
Fourth District — T. J. Pickett, Peoria. 
Fifth District — Edward A. Dudley, Quincy. 
Sixth District— W. H. Herndon, Springfield. 
Seventh District — R. J. Oglesby, Decatur. 
Eighth District— Joseph Gillespie, Edvvardsville. 
Ninth District — D. L. Phillips, Jonesboro. 

For the State at Large— Gustavus Koerner, Belleville, and 
Ira O. Wilkinson, Rock Island. 

The convention then adopted the following: 

"Resolved. That this convention recommend a state delegate 
convention to be held on Thursday, the 29th day of May next, 
in the city of Bloomington, and that the state central committee 
be requested to fix the ratio of representation for that conven- 
tion, and take such steps as may seem desirable to bring about a 
full representation from the whole state." 



LINCOLN DECLINES TO BE A CANDIDATE. 

In the issue of Tuesday morning, February 26, 1856, the 
Rock Island Advertiser gave nearly a two-column report of the 
proceedings of the Anti-Nebraska Editorial convention. In this 
report it says : 

"Abraharn Lincoln of Springfield was present and addressed 
the convention at the request of the editors, in which address he 
avowed his determination of not allowing his name to be used 
during the coming political canvass as a candidate for any office. 
He declared his preference for Col. Wm. H, Bissel for governor 
and expressed his conviction that he could be elected and was the 
man for the times." 



THE PITTSBURG MEETING. 

On the same day that the Illinois editors were in session, there 
was a similar convention held by the Anti-Nebraska editors of 
the state of Pennsylvania at Pittsburg, called "for the purpose 
of perfecting the national organization and providing for a na- 
tional delegate convention of the republican party to nominate 
candidates for the presidency and vice presidency." 

The proceedings of the Pittsburg convention are of special 
interest from the fact that Illinois men were present. Mr. Gid- 
dings introduced to the Pittsburg gathering the Rev. Mr. Love- 
joy of Illinois. He said: "The places of the most of those patri- 



24 Abraham Lincoln 



ots who were about to be shot down in Kansas, would be supplied 
by other free men. He was willing to go as captain or private. 
He would rather be there weltering in blood than to see a set 
of drunken ruffians take the government out of the hands of the 
people of Kansas." 

Mr. Charding of Illinois also addressed the convention, and 
J. S. McA^lillan of this state acted as one of the vice presidents, 
while Judge Edwin S. Leland of Ottawa was made one of the 
national committeemen. This convention issued a call for a na- 
tional convention to be held in Philadelphia on June 17th to nom- 
inate candidates for the presidency and vice presidency. 

The following call was issued by the state central committee of 
Illinois : 



ANTI-NEBRASKA STATE CONVENTION. 

"A State convention of the Anti-Nebraska party in Illinois will 
he held in the city of Bloomington on Thursday, the 29th day of 
May, 1856, for the purpose of choosing candidates for state of- 
ficers, appointing delegates to the national convention, transact- 
ing such other business as may properly come before the body. 
The committee has adopted as the basis of representation the 
ratio of one delegate to every 6000 inhabitants, and an addition- 
al delegate for every fractional number of 2000 and over ; but 
counties that contain less than 6000 inhabitants are entitled to 
one delegate." The call was signed by : 
Wm. B. Ogden S. M. Church 

F. A. Dudley Thos. J. Pickett 

R. J. Oglesby G. D. A. Parks 

Ira. O. Wilkinson W. H. Herndon 

Joe Gillespie D. L. Phillips 

Ira O. Wilkinson, one of the committee at large, was for many 
years a judge of our circuit court and leader of the Rock Island 
county bar. Rock Island county was entitled to three delegates. 
The following call was published in the Rock Island Advertiser 
and Moline Workman : 



REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 

"The state central committee having called the state conven- 
tion of the republican party to a meeting at Bloomington on the 
29th day of May next, the republicans of Rock Island county 
are required to meet at the courthouse in Rock Island on Satur- 



Abraham Lincoln 25 



day, the loth day of May, next, to choose delegates to attend the 
state convention. It is desired that all parts of the county will 
be fully represented. John W. Spencer, Joesph Jackman, John 
V. Cook, county committee. Rock Island, April 9, 1856." 



FOR A NATIONAL CONVENTION. 

In the same paper is a call "to the people of the United States 
without regard to past political differences or divisions, but who 
are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri compromise, to the policy 
of the present administration to the extension of slavery into the 
territory, in favor of the admission of Kansas as a free state, and 
restoring the use of the federal government to the times of 
Washington and Jefferson ; are invited by the national committee 
appointed by the Pittsburg convention on the 226. day of Feb- 
ruary, 1856, to send from each state three delegates from every 
congressional district, and six delegates at large to meet in Phila- 
delphia on the 17th day of June, next for the purpose of recom- 
mending candidates to be supported for the offices of president 
and vice president." 

Twenty-two states, including the District of Columbia, signed 
the call through conmmitteemen. E. S. Leland appears for IIH- 
nois. 



ANTI-NEBRASKA. 

An article in the Chicago Tribune in May of that year shows 
the sentiment prevalent at that time and it further indicates that 
those favorable to the formation of this new party were decided 
on a leader in this state. 

"THE BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION— Only two 
weeks will intervene between the present time and the day fixed 
for holding the anti-Nebraska state convention at Bloomington. 
But, though the time is short, we wish to correct one apprehen- 
sion that has gone abroad in relation to the proposed gathering. 
It is this : That the convention is to be exclusively republican. 
Such is not the case. The republicans, so far as we are informed, 
consent to be represented there purely as anti-Nebraska men, and 
if there is anything in their political creed which points to more 
radical measures than old-line whigs and anti-Nebraska demo- 
crats can consent to, they have expressed their willingness, with- 
out dissent, to put such things in abeyance, and unite upon the 
platform upon which all northern men, who are not avowedly 
pro-slavery, ought to stand. As one of the organs of the repub- 



26 Abraham Lincoln 



Hcan opinion, we have no hesitation in saying that we advise our 
friends throughout the state to such a course of action. We say 
further, that we know of no man who is identified with the re- 
pubHcan party who desires or would accept a nomination from 
the convention, for any place whatever. The republicans of the 
north wish to testify their sincerity by taking the places of pri- 
vates in the ranks, reserving the right to do battle wherever the 
fight is fiercest. They expect that the nominee for governor will 
possibly be a man who differs with them upon some matters con- 
nected with national politics, but they do not demand uniformity 
of belief — do not expect it. We know not who may be on the 
ticket with Colonel Bissel, and we do not care what they are 
called, or what may be their political antecedents, so that they 
are men of personal and political integrity, who may be depend- 
ed upon to carry out the views that they will announce. The re- 
publicans ask nothing." 



COUNTY CONVENTION. 

On Saturday, May lo, at 2 o'clock the first republican county 
convention of Rock Island county was held at the Rock Island 
county court house. John G. Powers was chairman and O. P. 
Wharton, editor of the Advertiser, was secretary. 

A. F. Perkins of Moline, George W. Pleasants and John W. 
Spencer of Rock Island were appointed a committee to select 
three delegates to attend the convention at Bloomington. This 
committee presented the names of N. C. Tyrell of Moline, R. H. 
Andrews of Rock Island and J. V. Cook of Camden, who were 
elected by the convention. 



THE STATE CONVENTION. 

The Rock Island Advertiser of Tuesday, June 3, 1856, gives a 
lengthy report, covering three columns, of the Bloomington con- 
vention. As delegates from Rock Island county it reports as 
present N. C. Tyrell, R. H. Andrews and J. V. Cook, while Ira 
O. Wilkinson is mentioned as one of the state central committee- 
men at large. 

The Advertiser in speaking of the meeting says : "It was by 
far the largest political convention that has convened for the 
nomination of state officers within the borders of Illinois. Po- 
litical tricksters had no hand or part in its doings, and from its 
patriotic resolves, we are assured that the sovereign people have 
made known their will." 



Abraham Lincoln 27 



THE RESOLUTIONS. 

The following were the resolutions which were unanimously 
adopted at the state convention : 

"Whereas, The present administration has prostituted its pow- 
ers and devoted all its energies to the propagation of slavery, and 
to its expansion into territories heretofore dedicated to freedom, 
against the known wishes of the people of such territories, to 
the suppression of freedom of speech, and of the press ; and to 
the revival of the odious doctrine of constructive treason, which 
has always been the resort of tyrants, and their most powerful 
engine of injustice and oppression ; and, 

"Whereas, We are convinced that an effort is making to sub- 
vert the principles, and ultimately to change the form of our 
government, and which it becomes all patriots who love their 
country and the cause of human freedom to resist; therefore, 

"Resolved, That foregoing all former differences of opinion 
upon other questions, we pledge ourselves to unite in opposition 
to the present administration and to the party which upholds and 
supports it, and to use all honorable and constitutional means to 
wrest the government from the unworthy hands which now con- 
trol it, and bring it back in its administration to the principles 
and practices of Washington, Jefferson and their great and good 
compatriots of the revolution ; 

"Resolved, That we hold, in accordance with the opinion and 
practices of all the great statesmen of all parties, for the first 
sixty years of the administration of the government, that under 
the constitution, Congress possesses full power to prohibit slavery 
in the territories ; and that whilst we will maintain all constitu- 
tional rights of the south, we also hold that justice, humanity, 
the principles of freedom as expressd in our Declaration of In- 
dependence and our national Constitution, and the purity and 
perpetuity of our government, require that power should be ex- 
erted to prevent the extension of slavery into territories hereto- 
fore free : 

"Resolved, That the repeal of the Missouri compromise was 
unwise unjust and injurious, an open and aggravated violation of 
the plighted faith of the states, and that the attempt of the pres- 
ent administration to force slavery into Kansas against the known 
wishes of the legal voters of that territory, is an arbitrary and 
tyrannous violation of the rights of the people to govern them- 
selves, and that we will strive by all constitutional means, to se- 
cure to Kansas and Nebraska the legal guarantee against slavery 
of which they were deprived at the cost of the violation of the 
plighted faith of the nation. 

"Resolved, That we are devoted to the Union, and will to the 



28 Abraham Lincoln 



last extremity defend it against the efforts now being made by 
the disunionists of the admintration to compass its dissolution, 
and that we will support the constitution of the United States in 
all its provisions ; regarding it as the sacred bond of our Union 
and the only safeguard for the preservation of the rights of our- 
selves and posterity. 

"Resolved, That we are in favor of the immediate admission 
of Kansas as a member of this confederacy, under the constitu- 
tion adopted by the people of said territory. 

"Resolved. That the spirit of our institutions, as well as the 
constitution of our country guarantee the liberty of conscience as 
well as political freedom, and that we will proscribe no one, by 
legislation or otherwise, on account of religious opinions, or in 
consequence of place of birth. 

"Resolved, That in Lyman Trumbull, our distinguished sena- 
tor, the people of Illinois have an able and consistent exponent of 
their principles, and that his course in the senate meets with our 
unqualified approbation." 

Although this convention was not called republican, the name 
not appearing in the proceedings, yet it was well understood that 
republican was to be the name of the new party and this conven- 
tion would select delegates to attend the national republican 
convention at Philadelphia. On motion of John Wentworth of 
Cook the following resolution was adopted : 

"Resolved, That the delegates in attendance from the several 
congressional districts be requested to suggest the name of one 
person from each congressional district for presidential elector, 
and three persons for delegates to the national convention to be 
held at Philadephia on the 17th proximo, and that a committee 
of nine, consisting of one from each congressional district, be 
appointed by the chair to recommend two such electors and 
six such delegates for the state at large." 

Jerome J. Beardsley of Rock Island was elected as the presi- 
dential elector from this (then Second) district, and T. J. Pick- 
ett, then of Peoria, was selected as a delegate to the national re- 
publican convention at Philadelphia. 



THE LOST SPEECH. 

It was at this convention that Abraham Lincoln made his 
famous speech, no copy of which was ever published, and which 
has gone down in history as "The Lost Speech." The editor of 
the Democratic Press of Chicago in an editorial in his paper on 
May 31, 1856, said: 

"Abraham Lincoln of Springfield was next called out, and 



Abraham Lincoln 29 



made the speech of the occasion. Never has it been our fortune 
to hsten to a more eloquent and masterly presentation of a sub- 
ject. I shall not mar any of its fine proportions or brilliant pas- 
sages by attempting even a synopis of it. Mr. Lincoln must 
write it out and let it go before all the people. For an hour and 
a half he held the assemblage spellbound by the power of his 
argument, the intense irony of his invective, and the deep earnest- 
ness and fervid brilliancy of his eloquence. When he concluded, 
the audience sprang to their feet and cheer after cheer told how 
deeply their hearts had been touched, and their souls warmed up 
to a generous enthusiasm." 



the; de;le;gates. 

The following is a list of the counties represented and the 
names of the delegates present at the convention: 

Adams— A. Williams, W. B. Powers, E. A. Dudley, Jno. Till- 
son, A. G. Person, George W. Burns, James T. Furness and O. 
H. Browning. 

Bond — J. F. Alexander. 

Boone — Luther W. Lawrence and Ralph Roberts. 

Bureau — Charles C. Kelsey, George Radcliff and Geo. W. 
Stipp, Jr. 

Calhoun — F. W. Kersting. 

Carroll— D. H. Wheeler. 

Cass — B. R. Frohook. 

Champaign — J. W. Jaquith, Elisha Harkness. 

Christian — W. G. Crosswaithe. 

Coles — T. A. Marshall, A. Compton, William Glasgow, George 
C. Harding. 

Cook — G. Goodrich, F. C. Sherman, Wm. A. James, A. H. 
Dolton, James McKie. Geo. Schneider, John Wentworth, C. H. 
Ray, J. L. Scripps, C. L. Wilson, Samuel Hoard, A. Aikin, H. 
H. Yates, L N. Arnold, N. B. Judd, J. W. Waughop, Mark 
Skinner. 

DeKalb — ^Wm. Patton, Wm. J. Hunt, James H. Beveridge. 

DeWitt— S. F. Lewis, J. F. Lemon. 

DuPage— W. B. Blanchard. S. P. Sedwick, J. W. Smith. 

Edgar — L. Munsell, R. B. Southerland. 

Edwards — Wm. Pickering. 

Fulton— W. P. Kellogg, Robert Carter, S. N. Breed. T. N. 
Hassan, H, O. Phelps. 

Greene — Daniel Bowman, Joshua W. Armstrong. 

Grundy — Robert Longworth, William T. Hopkins. 

Hancock — John Rise, S. W. King, S. Worley, A. Simpson. 



30 Abraham Lincoln 

Henderson — W. D. Henderson. 

Henry — J. H. Howe, J. M. Allen. 

Iroquois — W. P. Pearson, J. B. Joiner, I. Bennett. 

Jersey — Thomas Cummings, M. Corey. 

Jo Daviess — Adolph Meyer, T. B. Lewis, H. S. Townsend, T. 
Spraggins. 

Kane— I. A. W. Buck, S. C. Morey, G. W. Waite, A. Adams, 
W. R. Baker. 

Kankakee — A. W. Mack, Daniel Parker. 

Kendall^J. M. Crothers, J. B. Lowry. 

Knox — T. J. Hale, D. H. Frisbie, Jesse Perdue, C. J. Sellon. 

Lake— E. P. Perry, N. C. Geer, Wm. B. Dodge. 

LaSalle— D. L. Hough, J. A. McMillan, David Strawn, Burton 
C. Cook, Elmer Baldwin, C. H. Gilman. 

Lee — E. M. Ingals, J. V. Eustace. 

Livingston — J. H. Dart, David McWilliams. 

Logan — J. L. Dugger, S. C. Parks. 

McDonough— L. H. Waters, J. E. Wyne. 

McHenry — S. P. Hegale, Anthony Woodspur, C. W. Craig, 
Wesley Diggins, Dr. Abularr. A. C. Joslyn. 

McLean — James Gilmore Sr., Dr. Harrison Noble, Wm. W. 
Orme, delegates ; A. T. Briscoe, Green B. Larrison, David 
Cheney, alternates. 

Macon— W. J. Usrey, L C. Pugh. 

Macoupin — J. M. Palmer, John Logan, Samuel Brown, Thom- 
as B. Lofton, P. B. Solomon, J. D. Marshall, James Wolfe. 

Madison— F. S. Rutherford, H. King, George Smith, M. G. 
Atwood, H S. Baker, George T. Brown, John Tirble, Gershon 
Flagg. 

Marion — D. K. Green, T. W. Tones, S. W. Cunningham. 

Marshall— Robert Boal, T. C. Tozier. 

Mason— H. O'Neal, R. P. Gatton. 

Menard — M. T. Morris, George Collier. 

Mercer — John W. Miles, L. W. Meyers. 

Montgomery — Wickcliff Kitchell, J. W. Cassady, J. T. Eccles. 

Morgan— R. Yates, J. W. King, M. H. Cassell, J. B. Duncan, 
J. J. Cassell, R. McKee, I\L J. Pond, A. P. Wood, L L. Morrison, 
James Green, William L. Sargeant, J. W. Strong, James Lang- 
ley, E. Lusk, B. F. Stevenson, J. N. D. Stout, A. Bulkley, B. F. 
Ford, J. Metcalf, J. Graham. 

Moultrie — John A. Freeland. 

Ogle— Charles C. Royce, F. A. McNeil, G. W. Southwick. 

Peoria— J. D. Arnold, B. L. T. Bourland, R. Scholst, George 
T. Harding, T. J. Pickett. 

Piatt— P. K. Hall. 



Abraham Lincoln 31 



Pike— John G. Nicolay, Wm. Ross, M. Ross, J. Grimshay, T. 
Worthington, W. E. Elder, J. Hall, M. J. Noyes, D. H. Gilmer, 
O. M. Hatch. 

Putnam — B. C. Lundy. 

Randolph— Thomas McClurken, Casper Horn, J. C. Holbrook, 
F. B. Anderson, B. J. F. Hanna. 

Rock Island— N. C. Tyrell, R. H. Andrews, John V. Cook, 
Ira O. Wilkinson. 

St. Clair— Dr. Charles Vincenz, J. B. Hoppe, Francis Wenzell, 
N. Miles, F. A. Carpenter. 

Sangamon— A. Lincoln, Wm. H. Herndon, J. C. Conkling, 
Preston Breckenridge, Wm. Jayne, R. H. Ballinger, Pascal P. 
Enos, Wm. H. Bailhache, E. L. Baker, Peter Earnest, J. B. 
Weber, 

Schuyler— John Clark, N. G. Wilcox. 

Scott— N. M. Knapp, John Moses, James B. Young, M. James 

Stark — T. J. Henderson. 

Stephenson— M. P. Sweet, John H. Davis, George Nolbrecht, 
H. N. Hibbard. 

Tazewell— D. Cheever, D. Kyes, H. Clark, George W. Shaw, 
John M. Busch. 

Union— D. L. Phillips. 

Vermilion— Joseph Peters. Martin Bourchall, A. T. Harrison. 

Warren — A. C. Harding, E. A. Paine. 

Washington — J. Miller, D. Kennedy. 

Whiteside — William Manahan, William Protrow. 

Will— G. D. A. Parks, W. Wright, J. T. Daggett, Wm. B. 
Hewitt, H. T. Logan, A. Mcintosh, S. Anderson, J. O. Norton, 
Ichabod Coddings, P. Stewart. 

WinnebagCH— F. Burnass, W. Lyman, S. M. Church, T. D. 
Robertson. 

Woodford— C. D. Banta, R. T. Cassell. 

Total number of delegates — 251. 

THE TICKET. 

William H. Bissell of St. Clair county was nominated for 
governor; Frances A. Hoffman of DuPage for lieutenant gov- 
ernor, but subsequently the name of John Wood of Adams was 
substituted; O. M. Hatch of Pike, for secretary of state; Jesse 
K. Dubois of Lawrence, for auditor; WilHam H. Powell of Peo- 
ria for superintendent of public instruction, and James Miller for 
state treasurer. 

Abraham Lincoln, O. H. Browning, Richard Yates, John M. 
Palmer, Owen Lovejoy, Lyman Trumbull, John Wentworth and 
Ira O. Wilkinson were among the strong men who shaped the 
policy of this new party. 



32 Abraham Lincoln 



THE ROCK ISLAND DELEGATES. 

Rock Island county's three delegates were ardent abolition- 
ists. John V. Cook was afterward county clerk. R. H. Andrews 
was an attorney living in Rock Island and died the following Au- 
gust. Nathan C. Tyrell lived in Moline and was best known as 
Deacon and Squire Tyrell. He was a strong abolitionist and 
was one of the main agents in the operation of the "underground 
railway" in this locality. The deacon was comparatively a poor 
man, and while he gave twenty-five dollars toward assisting the 
Free-Soil people of Kansas, he could scarce afford it. In those 
days to get to Bloomington from Moline one had either to go 
by stage via- Peoria, or by rail to LaSalle and then on the 
Illinois Central to Bloomington. The deacon was bound to at- 
tend the convention, and not having the money, started out on 
foot and walked the entire distance. On the return trip, he 
walked from Bloomington to Peoria, and from there he 
worked his passage on a boat to LaSalle, from where he paid 
his fare to Moline. Deacon Tyrell was a man of strong prin- 
ciples. He attended the Bloomington convention because he be- 
lieved it was his duty, and his course stands out in strong contrast 
to many of the delegates of today. 



ROCK ISLAND MEETINGS. 

On Thursday. June 12, there was held in the court house yard 
in Rock Island, an immense republican gathering of the people 
of that county. Gen. James H. Lane of Kansas and Joseph 
Knox, attorney of Rock Island, addressed the meeting. Hon. 
Ira O. Wilkinson was president of the gathering. George Mix- 
ter and John Deere of Moline were vice presidents. Major J. 
M. Allen and O. P. Wharton were secretaries. 

Mr. Knox had until this meeting been a democrat, and he ad- 
dressed his audience for nearly two hours. The Advertiser in 
speaking of his speech said : 

"His desertion of the Douglas fortunes in this state is the 
severest blow that they have yet received. Pie is a warm person- 
al friend of the 'Little Giant.' But his love for his country like 
that of Brutus compelled the sacrifice and we honor him for the 
noble manner in which he did and now maintains himself." 

Mass meetings were held in all parts of the county, which were 
addressed by Joseph Knox, Ira O. Wilkinson. J. J. Beardsley, 
George Mixter, George W. Pleasants, Robert V. Smith and 
others. 

On March 21 there was held another large republican anti- 



Abraham Lincoln 33 



Nebraska meeting at the court house in Rock Island. John W. 
Spencer was president, Capt. T. J. Robinson and S. S. Guyer 
vice presidents, and O. P. Wharton secretary. J. J. Beardsley 
was the first speaker and the press reports say : "He responded 
in a speech of probably an hour in length of great power — log- 
ical, historical, truthful, eloquent — convincing. 

"George W. Pleasants upon call of the audience followed Mr. 
Beardsley in a speech of about one hour and a half, embodying 
one of the most eloquent and searching appeals to the common 
sense and patriotism of the people to which we have ever had the 
pleasure of listening." 



THE ge:rmans. 

The German-American citizens of this county like their 
brothers all over the country were abolitionists, and this was a 
source of considerable annoyance to the democrats. As an ex- 
ample, I quote from the Rock Island Argus of April 15th 1856: 

"It is a singular fact that the German adherents to the nigger 
worshippers are mostly anti-Christians and devoted followers of 
King Gambrinus; and the Americans (Know-Nothings) are 
mostly Puritans and Maine lawites. Yet both join hand in hand, 
under the misapplied name of 'republican' to beat the democracy, 
the only national party and true friends of liberty. Les ex- 
tremes se touchent." 



THE NATIONAL ELECTION. 

James Buchanan was the democratic candidate for president 
in 1856. Millard Fillmore was the native American, and on June 
17th at Philadelphia the anti-slavery democrats and whigs of the 
north met and organized the national republican party, and nom- 
inated John C. Fremont for president. While Buchanan carried 
the state by a plurality of 9164 over Fremont, the entire republi- 
can state ticket of Illinois was elected, Bissell receiving a majority 
of 4697 over W. A. Richardson, the democratic candidate. 

Rock Island county in 1850 had only 6937 people and in 1856 
our population was 16,217. The county gave Fremont 1308 
votes; Buchanan 955; Fillmore 251. For governor Bissell re- 
ceived 1359; Richardson 958; Morris 230. For congress J. F. 
Farnsworth received 1302 votes, a majority of 340 over J. Van 
Nortwick. Thomas J Henderson was elected to the state sen- 
ate, receiving 1304 votes. J. B. Hawley was elected state's at- 
torney. 



34 Abraham Lincoln 



The Camden (now Milan) precinct poll books were thrown 
out by the judges on account of informalities, the judges not be- 
ing sworn. This precinct gave a majority of from 28 to 55 demo- 
cratic. 



some; ii^lingis editors. 

O. P. Wharton, the editor of the Rock Island Advertiser, was 
an Ohio man, coming to Rock Island in September, 1853, when 
he purchased a half interest in this paper. He continued in its 
publication until the spring of 1858 when the paper suspended. 
Mr. Wharton then left Rock Island. Mr. Wharton was a pro- 
nounced anti-slavery man and did much to strengthen the cause. 
In 1900 he was editor of the Journal and Local of Sandusky, 
Ohio. 

From August, 1854, to February, 1857, Amos Smith published 
in Moline, The Moline Workman. Mr. Smith was a native of 
New Jersey, and was one of Parson Hitchcock's most ardent ad- 
mirers. His paper fairly bristled with abolition arguments, and 
he had much to do with forming the anti-slavery sentiment in 
Moline. One of his contemporary editors in this county, in 
speaking of his paper in 1870, said: "The Workman in its po- 
litical tone was decidedly Anti-Slavery." 

T. J. Pickett, who was editor of the Peoria Republican, one of 
the newspapers to sign the call in February, 1856, was born in 
Kentucky and became in February, 1859, a citizen of the city of 
Rock Island where he started the Rock Island Register. He was 
in i860 elected state senator from this county. His term ex- 
tended through the 226 and 23d general assemblies, and in 1861 
he was government agent at the island of Rock Island. In 1862 
Mr. Pickett enlisted in the civil war and was afterward elected 
lieutenant colonel of the 69th Illinois infantry, and afterward 
promoted to the colonelcy of the I32d Illinois infantry. After 
the war he came to Rock Island and in 1866 was government 
agent on the island. In 1866 he returned to Paducah, Kentucky. 



LINCOLN S ADDRESS. 

On December loth, 1856, the republicans of Illinois celebrated 
their victory with a banquet in Chicago. Among the speakers 
was Abraham Lincoln. The concluding portion of his address 
is worthy of wider dissemination Mr. Lincoln said: 



Abraham Lincoln 35 



"All of us who did not vote for Mr. Buchanan, taken together, 
are a majority of 400,000. But in the late contest we were di- 
vided between Fremont and Fillmore. Can we not come together 
for the future? Let everyone who really believes, and is re- 
solved, that free society is not, and shall not be, a failure, and 
who conscientiously declares that in the past contest he has done 
only what he thought best — let every such an one have charity 
to believe that every one can say as much. Thus let by-gones be 
by-gones. Let past differences as nothing be, and with steady 
eye on the real issue, let us re-inaugurate the good old 'central 
ideas' of the republic. We can do it. The human heart is with 
us — God is with us. We shall again be able, not to declare that 
*all States, as States, are equal,' nor yet that 'all citizens, as citi- 
zens, are equal,' but to renew the broader, better declaration, in- 
cluding both these and much more, that 'all men are created 
equal.' " 



annive;rsary of the republican party. 

The republican party dates its birth from the republican na- 
tional convention held at Philadelphia on June 17th, 1856. Yet 
the republican party in Illinois was born May 29th, 1856, at 
Bloomington, and as well said by Mr. Benjamin F. Shaw: "No 
human agency in all the tide of times has accomplished more in 
modifying 'Man's inhumanity to man, which makes countless 
thousands mourn,' than the republican party. Its efforts have 
been in a spirit of pure patriotism and the universal brotherhood 
of man." 



Abraham Lincoln 37 



CHAPTER III. 



THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AT CHICAGO HORACE 

GREELEY, THURLOW WEED, EDWARD BATES, WILLIAM M. EVARTS, 
JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS, CARL SCHURZ, AND OTHER HISTORICAL 
CHARACTERS PRESENT — STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

I remember the Wigwam, and the great Republican convention 
held in Chicago on May 16, i860. The Republican state conven- 
tion was held in Decatur on the loth of May. I was studying 
law in the office of James C. Conkling of Springfield and I had 
read Kent and was reading Blackstone, two volumes of which I 
had already finished. When Mr. Conkling went to New York 
to deliver speeches for Mr. Lincoln, I was left in charge of 
his office. Lincoln remained at home during the canvass, 
but kept strict watch concerning the events of the presidential 
campaign. Mr. Elihu B. Washburne in his reminiscences of Lin- 
coln says : "The most thrilling event was the monster Republican 
mass meeting held at Springfield during the canvass. It was 
a meeting in which the whole state participated and was more 
in the nature of a personal ovation to Lincoln than a political 
gathering. Mr. Lincoln, surrounded by some intimate friends, 
sat on the balcony of his modest home and was deeply touched 
by the manifestations of personal and political friendship." 

Lincoln went down to Decatur and was present when the two 
old rails were brought into the convention hall with the inscrip- 
tion, now famous, "Abraham Lincoln, the rail candidate for the 
Presidency in i860. Two rails from a lot of 3,000, made in 1830 
by Thomas Hanks and Abe Lincoln, whose father was the first 
pioneer of Macon county." 

The Republican Convention met in Chicago May 16, i860, and 
nominated Abraham Lincoln as President, and Hannibal Hamlin 
Vice-President. William H. Seward, who received on the first 
ballot i73>4 votes, to Lincoln's 102, was afterwards made Secre- 
tary of State, and Mr. S. T. Chase, who received 49 votes on the 
first ballot, was made Secretary of the Treasury, and Simon 
Cameron, who received 60I/2 votes upon the first ballot, was made 
Secretary of War. 

The number necessary for a choice was 233. On the third 
ballot Lincoln had 231I4, and before figures were removed a dele- 



38 Abraham Lincoln 



gate from Ohio changed four votes from Chase to Lincoln. Wil- 
Ham M. Evarts finally moved to make the vote unanimous. 

When the national convention was held at Chicago, in the 
Wigwam, an enormous building erected just to hold the large 
crowds that attended the convention, Lincoln remained in Spring- 
field. Lincoln was in the office of the Sangamon Journal at the 
time of the second ballot. Mr. Lincoln read the telegraph noti- 
fying him of his nomination, and without stopping to receive 
the congratulations of his friends he said, "There is a little 
woman down at our house who will like to hear of this. I'll go 
down and tell her." 

An interesting letter from Mr. Clinton L. Conkling, son of 
James C. Conkling, one of the electors in 1864. 

Clinton Lodge, 
Wequetonsing, Michigan. 

Sept. 2, 1915. 
Bartow A. Ulrich, Esq., 

Chicago, 111. 
My Dear Mr. Ulrich: 

Yours of Aug. 30th has been forwarded to me here, from 
Springfield. 

For the true statement of how Mr. Lincoln received the news 
of his first nomination, see transactions of Illinois State Histor- 
ical Society. 

No special wire was at his disposal in Springfield. I was in 
the telegraph office when the news came and had seen Mr. Lin- 
coln but a moment before and rushed out and met him on the 
sidewalk. I was the first to tell him of his nomination. 

Yours truly, 

Clinton L. Conkling. 

There surely never has been a party national convention held 
in our country amid such popular enthusiasm as that which met 
the delegates on their arrival in Chicago, surrounded them during 
their whole stay in the city, and accompanied them to their homes. 

The building of the great "Wigwam" had been the subject of 
many telegrams and letters sent all over the country which cre- 
ated a popular interest in it. The outside attendance was im- 
mense. Among the delegates were Horace Greeley, Thurlow 
Weed, Edward Bates, afterwards attorney-general, William M. 
Evarts, Joshua R. Giddings, Carl Schurz, Henry S. Love, Mont- 
gomery Blair, afterwards postmaster-general, Caleb B. Smith, 
afterwards secretary of the interior, and O. H. Browning, also 
secretary of the interior. 

The result is well-remembered by all. Mr. Seward failed by 
sixty votes to receive a majority on the first ballot. Abraham 
Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot, amid a scene of en- 



Abraham Lincoln 39 



thusiastic excitement which a similar event has never produced 
before or since. 

In Chapter IX, under the heading of Convention i860, in his 
book entitled Illini, Mr. Clark E. Carr, graphically describes the 
Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln. He says : 
"Never before did a candidate for nomination to the office of 
President of the United States have such sagacious and earnest 
supporters as Abraham Lincoln." 

May 19, i860, Mr. Ashmum, Chairman of the States Delega- 
tion announced to Mr. Lincoln at his residence, his nomination. 
Mr. Lincoln replied as follows : "Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen 
of the Committee, I tender you, and through you, the Republican 
National Convention and all people represented in it, my pro- 
foundest thanks for the high honor done me, which you formally 
announce. Deeply and even painfully sensible of the deep re- 
sponsibility which is inseparable from the honor, a responsibility 
which I could almost wish could have fallen upon some one of the 
far more eminent and experienced statesmen whose distinguished 
names were before the Convention, I shall, by your leave, con- 
sider more fully the resolutions of the Convention, denominated 
the platform, and without unreasonable delay, respond to you, 
Mr. Chairman, in writing, not doubting that the platform will be 
found satisfactory and the nomination accepted. Now, I will 
not defer the pleasure of taking you and each of you by the 
hand." 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

The Democratic national convention met at Charleston in April, 
but the slavery question caused a split. The "seceders" ad- 
journed to Baltimore, where Stephen A. Douglas was nominated, 
June 18. The pro-slavery democrats withdrew and nominated 
John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. The Constitutional Union 
democrats, or whigs, had already nominated John Bell, of Ten- 
nessee. 

Mr. J. P. Usher states, in his reminiscences of Lincoln, that 
"during the canvass which terminated in the election of Mr. 
Lincoln, Mr. Douglas omitted no occasion to express his devotion 
to the preservation of the Union. He traversed the whole coun- 
try and in all his speeches left no room to doubt his stand by 
the government, no matter who was elected. The pledges he then 
made he kept, and they were of immense value to the Union 
cause, and for them Mr. Lincoln never failed to express his grati- 
fication and his obligation to Mr. Douglas. No single act of 
Douglas's life so strongly marked his gift of leadership as that 



40 Abraham Lincoln 



by which he accepted a new issue and without a moment's hesita- 
tion came forward and placed himself by the side of Lincoln in 
defense of the government, the first as well as the greatest of 
war democrats." 

Judge Douglas said, in a speech delivered at Norfolk, Virginia, 
"that it is the duty of the President of the United States, and all 
others in authority under him, to enforce the laws, and, I, as in 
duty bound by my oath of fidelity to the constitution, would 
do all in my power to aid the government of the United States 
in maintaining the laws against all resistance to them, come from 
what quarter it might. In other words, I think the President, 
whoever he may be, should treat all attempts to break up the 
Union by resistance to the laws, as Old Hickory treated the 
nullifiers in 1832." 

At the special session of the House of Representatives of Illi- 
nois, he made a strong and patriotic speech for a united efifort 
in resisting the attempts of the slave power to destroy the Union. 
He advised his democratic friends not to allow their opposition 
to the republican party to turn them into traitors to their coun- 
try. (From Judge Franklin Blade's Personal Recollections of 
Lincoln.) 

"Having through a friend signified his desire for an interview, 
Douglas went to the executive mansion between seven and eight 
o'clock on this Sunday evening, April 14, and being gladly re- 
ceived by the president, these two remarkable men sat in con- 
fidential interview without a witness for nearly two hours. 

"Judge Douglas wrote the following despatch to the Associated 
Press which appeared the next morning, April 18, 1861. 'Senator 
Douglas called on the President and had an interesting conversa- 
tion on the present condition of the country. The substance of 
it was, on the part of Douglas, that while he was unalterably op- 
posed to the administration in all its political issues, he was pre- 
pared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all his 
constitutional functions, to preserve the Union, maintain the 
government, and defend the Federal Capital if firm policy and 
prompt action was necessary. The capital was in danger and 
must be defended at all hazards and at any expense of men and 
money. He spoke of the present and future without any refer- 
ence to the past.' " 

"On the following morning, side by side with Lincoln's pro- 
clamation, the whole country read the telegraphic announce- 
ment of the interview and the authorized declaration. Douglas 
nobly redeemed the promises he had given Lincoln. He finally 
died at his home in Chicago, June 3, 1861. 

"Douglas said to the republicans in the House of Representa- 
tives in Washington after Lincoln was nominated : 'Well, gentle- 



Abraham Lincoln 41 



men, you have nominated a very able and a very honest man,' " 
(Senator A. B. Alley.) 

George Ashmiim of Massachusetts furnished a copy of this des- 
patch to Mr. I. N. Arnold, who included it in his Life of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

"He made a speech at Springfield when war was declared, call- 
ing upon all his democratic adherents to come out boldly and 
fight in defense of the Union. This was a powerful incentive 
and many obeyed the call. When the Missouri compromise was 
repealed, the South stood solidly for Douglas, but when he held 
that slavery could not be taken into the new states created out 
of the territories unless they voted for it, they abandoned him. 
He advocated the right of new states to decide as to slavery or 
not." 



IIvUNOISANS CELEBRATE CENTENNIAI, ANNIVERSARY OE STEPHEN 

A. Douglas's birth. 



A grandson of Stephen A. Douglas, of greater stature than 
his illustrious forebear, but with many of the Douglas features 
which recalled to old-timers the famous opponent of Lincoln 
with vividness, came from Greensboro, N. C., to Chicago and 
heard "The Little Giant" of Illinois politics lauded by those who 
had known and loved him on the centennial anniversary of his 
birth. 

The grandson, Martin F. Douglas, last night read a letter pre- 
pared by his father, Robert M. Douglas, the senator's only sur- 
viving son, in which was contained reminiscences of the elder 
Douglas and thanks to the Chicago Historical Society, which had 
charge of the day's memorial exercises, for bringing to public 
attention the honor of the name. The reading was in the histor- 
ical society's building, Dearborn avenue and West Ontario street. 

Sitting in the audience were Henry E. Hamiliton, organizer of 
the "Douglas Invincibles," and Horatio L. Wait, one of the mili- 
tary guard on the night of June 4, 1861, over Douglas's body in 
Bryan Hall. 

"The very manner and gestures !" exclaimed both, startling 
the young man's hearers, as the speaker emphasized his talk by 
movement of hand and body. 

"He's a grandson of Senator Douglas, all right," added Henry 
Greenebaum, who made speeches for Douglas when the latter 
campaigned against Lincoln. 

The mannerisms and expression of the young man were called 
those of his grandparent also by Colonel Francis A. Eastman, 



42 Abraham Lincoln 



Professor EHas A. Colbert, William J. Onahan, Redmond Prinde- 
ville and others who were friends of the elder Douglas. 

Colonel Clark E. Carr of Galesburg, a Douglas orator and per- 
sonal friend, eulogized the Illinois political giant of earlier days 
and concluded an address containing many anecdotes and histori- 
cal incidents of Douglas's career with a solemn recital of his last 
moments, when Douglas, dying from over-exertion in appealing to 
his followers in the Wigwam to stand by the nation and govern- 
ment, gave as his last message to his sons : 

"Tell them to obey the laws and uphold the Constitution." 

These words, engraved on his tomb, reflected the sentiments 
of the crowd of old and young that gathered in the afternoon 
at Thirty-fifth street and the lake to hear praises sung by his old- 
time friends and admirers. He was called the man who made 
a Lincoln possible, one of America's greatest statesmen and a man 
of highest patriotism. 

Vice-President Marshall, writing to the Chicago Historical 
Society, said : "This great and good man has not received that 
fair meed of honor which the American Republic owes him." 

The anniversary was observed also by the Iroquois Club at a 
luncheon. 

While the Illinois legislature was celebrating the Douglas cen- 
tennial today, Representative E. Williams of Illinois was eulo- 
gizing the "Little Giant" in the House of Representatives. After 
describing Stephen A. Douglas's early career, Mr. Williams said 
in part : "His rise was phenomenal. The history of this country 
with all its splendid opportunities and brilliant men fails to 
record another instance of such rapid progress and achievement." 

United States Senators Lawrence Y. Sherman and James 
Hamiliton Lewis of Illinois and James A. Reed of Missouri were 
among the speakers at a notable celebration before the joint as- 
sembly today of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of 
Stephen A. Douglas. 

Other speakers were Robert D. Douglas, a grandson of Stephen 
A. Douglas and a former attorney-general of South Carolina ; 
William L. Davidson of Lewistown, a veteran Democratic editor 
who knew Douglas, and Everett Jennings of Chicago. Governor 
Dunne was the presiding officer. 

Justices of the Supreme Court, state officers and many promi- 
nent politicians from all parts of the state were present. Several 
men whose memory runs back to the time of the Lincoln and 
Douglas debates occupied seats of honor on the speakers' rostrum. 

Governor Dunne read a telegram from former Senator Shelby 
M. Cullom, who regretted his inability to be present. 

Senator Lewis said Douglas had believed the United States 



Abraham Lincoln 43 



should not meddle in other nations' affairs nor tolerate interfer- 
ence. 

Douglas was lauded as the highest type of statesman and patriot 
and as a masterly friend of home rule and state self-government 
by the speakers of various political faiths, praising especially his 
support of Lincoln once the civil war had begun. 

He compared the Senate in the days of Douglas, Trumbull, 
Webster and Clay with the present day estimate, saying: 

"In those days the United States Senate in influencing the opin- 
ion of the American citizen was the most powerful legislative 
body in the world, but in affecting the market rates of stock spec- 
ulation it was of little consideration, as it should have been. The 
reverse is seen in the present day. In matters of finance and 
stock market gambling the United States Senate is the most po- 
tent in its least expression of legislation of all tribunals. But 
such has been its course in later days that in the influencing of 
the political opinions of the citizen, the United States Senate of 
today is the least potent of any legislative body in the world." 

Senator Sherman concluded his address by quoting from Doug- 
las's speech on judicial recall and the "recall of judicial decisions," 
as follows : 

"The right and province of expounding the Constitution and 
construing the law is vested in the judiciary established by the 
Constitution." — (Chicago Record-Herald, 1913-) 



Abraham Lincoln 45 



CHAPTER IV. 



SIICESSION CABAL AT WASHINGTON — HOWELL COBB, SECRETARY OF 
TREASURY, JOHN B. FLOYD, SECRETARY OF WAR UNDER PRESI- 
DENT BUCHANAN AMONG CONSPIRATORS ALSO JEFFERSON 

DAVIS, U. S. SENATOR AND ROBERT TOOMBS, U. S. SENATOR — 
CAPT. SHAFFER DEFEATS PLAN TO CAPTURE WASHINGTON — 
VIRGINIA SECESSION ORDINANCE — LIBERATION OF SERFS BY 
CZAR NICHOLAS. 

District Attorney Robert Ould advised President Buchanan in 
February 1861 not to grant the order of the Inspector-General to 
issue arms to the District of Columbia's troops in i860 when 
Washington was threatened by the rebels in office in the Capital. 
Their plan was to seize the public departments at the proper mo- 
ment, and obtain possession of the seal of the government. Shae- 
fer, with the National Volunteers, was to accomplish this. He 
was assisted in his treasonable movements by the Secretary of 
War, John B. Floyd, who directed the Chief of Ordnance to 
cause to be issued to Capt. Shaefer all the ordnance stores he 
might require for his company. He also nominated Capt. Shaefer 
to the President for the Commission of Major in the District of 
Columbia's militia, which was finally granted, but subsequently 
recalled by Charles O. Stone, who was appointed Inspector-Gen- 
eral, as Shaefer would not take the oath of loyalty. 

Senator Summer stated to Senator Wilson, that in the month 
of Jan. 1861 he called on Mr. Stanton at the department: That 
the latter made an appointment to see him at his apartment late 
that night, and at this conference described the determination of 
the southern leaders and developed particularly their plan to ob- 
tain possession of the nation's capitol and the nation's archives, so 
that they might substitute themselves for the existing government ! 

"That the secession of Maryland was confidently relied upon 
by them is well known, and if it could have been accomplished 
before the count of the electoral vote, which was to take place 
on the 13th of Feb., the rebel plan was understood to include the 
seizure of the capitol," said Stephen A. Douglas in his last public 
speech May i, 1861 at Chicago. (Life of Stanton by Gorman). 

"If the disunion candidate in the presidential contest had carried 
the united south, the scheme was, the northern candidate being 



46 Abraham Lincoln 



successful, to seize the capital last spring and by a united South 
and divided North, hold it." (Douglas, Chicago Speech.) 

Stanton, Black and Holt co-operated to arouse the President 
to the necessity of guarding the Capital and a few hundred 
troops served to remind the conspirators that there would be two 
sides to the question; if force should attempt in Washington, 
what had already been done in the cotton states. 

There was a regular secession cabal formed at Washington to 
assist the conspirators. It was composed of John B. Floyd, Sec- 
retary of War in Buchanan's Cabinet and afterwards General in 
the Confederate Army, Secretary Cobb, Secretary Jacob Thomp- 
son, Jefferson Davis, U. S. Senator, Robert Toombs, U. S. Seria- 
tor who was finally expelled from the Senate, afterwards Brig- 
adier-General in the Rebel Army, Vice-President Breckinridge 
and others. Floyd was succeeded by Joseph Holt of Kentucky 
and finally by the loyal and competent Edwin M. Stanton. 

Messrs. Nicolay and Hay state that : "Floyd lost no opportun- 
ity to favor the conspirators. He sold them at one time five 
thousand muskets; then delivered five thousand from Boston 
Range Arsenal, advanced quotas of arms to southern states and 
ordered the Washington Navy Yard to manufacture howitzers and 
fuses for Virginia." 

Secretary Floyd's note was substituted for one million dollars 
worth of Indian trust bonds, embezzled from the Interior De- 
partment. Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior at the time, 
must have known how the bonds were taken. He subsequently 
went over to the rebels. 

The day before Charleston passed the secession ordinance 
Floyd ordered one hundred and twenty-three cannons transferred 
from the Pittsburg Arsenal to the southern coast. This order 
was, however, subsequently countermanded by Secretary Stan- 
ton. Howard Cobb was Secretary of the Treasury, and at this 
time issued a six column secession address but he was soon there- 
after succeeded by John A. Dix of New York. He also subse- 
quently joined the rebel army. 

Jefferson Davis was in the U. S. Senate from Mississippi. He 
maintained that the states possessed the right to secede from the 
general government, if they so desired. He also held that slaves 
could be taken into the territories and retained as slaves. Davis 
made a motion in regard to the Compromise Bill, "that nothing 
herein contained shall be construed to prevent said territorial leg- 
islature passing such laws as may be necessary for the protec- 
tion of the rights of property, (meaning slaves) of any kind 
which may have been, or may be hereafter, conformable to the 
constitution, and laws of the United States, held in or introduced 
into said territory." Senator Chase proposed the following 



Abraham Lincoln 47 



amendment : "that nothing herein contained shall be construed as 
authorizing, or permitting the introduction of slavery, or the hold- 
ing of persons as property in said territory." Mr. Chase de- 
clared that "the South will dissolve the Union. Their cry never 
astonishes, nor alarms me ; shall we yield to the outcry ? For 
one, I say never ! In my judgment, it is time to pause. We have 
yielded point by point. We have crowded concession on conces- 
sion, until duty, patriotism, shame, demand that we shall stop. 
We of the west are in the habit of looking upon the Union, as 
we look upon the arch of heaven, without thought that it can 
ever decay or fall." Chase and Seward delivered two great 
speeches against the compromise. 

"The principal of the Wilmot Proviso which was being dis- 
cussed was that freedom was a normal condition of annexed ter- 
ritory." (Albert Bushnell Hart, Life of Chase.) 

President Buchanan continually looked to the southern Senators 
for advice. Jefferson Davis states in his book that Buchanan sub- 
mitted his message to him to read before it was sent to the Senate, 
on one occasion, and "finally accepted all the modifications which 
he, Davis suggested." (Rise and Fall of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment, by Jefferson Davis, Vol. I, Page 59.) 

John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, arranged to supply Thomas 
F. Dayton and Senator Wigfall of Texas, twenty thousand mus- 
kets for Texas and South Carolina. 

Vice-President John C. Breckenridge and Gen. Joseph E. John- 
ston, President of Board of Ordinance, Officers Wm. H. Trosatt, 
Assistant Secretary of State, and Howell Cobb of Ga., Secre- 
tary of Treasury under Buchanan, all joined the Rebel army 
afterwards. 

The following is what Jefferson Davis said about State rights 
in the Senate when he withdrew from that body, January 21st, 
1861: 

"To the South has been proclaimed the theory that all men are 
created free and equal and this made the basis of attack upon her 
social institutions ; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has 
been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. 
The Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circum- 
stances for which it was made." 

"At a cabinet meeting to consider sending assistance to Fort 
Sumter, Stanton instantly changed the tone of debates and in the 
discussion as to the binding force of a shuffling unofficial agree- 
ment to leave Fort Sumter unprotected, thundered out the blunt 
truth to Floyd and Thompson, that they were advocating the com- 
mission of a crime, for which if committed they ought to be 
hanged, and were urging the president to an act of treason, for 



48 Abraham Lincoln 



which, if performed, he could be impeached, removed from office 
and punished under the penal code." 

"Floyd, who had up to that very time passed as a unionist, now 
appeared in his true character, and gave up the contest by resign- 
ing. Thompson soon followed on a false pretense and Thomas, 
Cobb's successor soon followed him. The President then sur- 
rounded himself with a patriotic cabinet and thus escaped the fate 
that false friends had been preparing for him." (Gorman's Life 
of Stanton.) 

"The Virginia secession ordinance, though secretly adopted be- 
came quickly known to the people of Richmond. It was immedi- 
ately announced to the State-Rights Convention in session in an- 
other hall, and Governor Fletcher, Senator Mason, Ex-President 
Tyler, and Ex-Governor Wise from the convention, soon ap- 
peared there and glorified the event with speeches — the latter 
commenting on the blindness which had prevented Virginia from 
seizing Washington before the republican hordes got possession 
of it." (Nicolay and Hay's Abraham Lincoln.) 

Following is a "Declaration of Causes" : "That the several 
states entered into the union as sovereignties ; that in forming the 
federal government they delegated to it only specific powers for 
specific ends; that the federal government was not a sovereign 
over sovereignties, but was only an agent between them; that 
there existed no common arbiter to adjudge differences ; that each 
state or sovereignty might judge for itself any violation of the 
corhmon agreement and choose its own mode of redress; conse- 
quently that each state might adhere to or recede from the union 
at its own sovereign will and pleasure." 

The leaders of the southern rebellion lacked real statesmenship 
and a clear understanding of the basic principles of government. 
While all civilized monarchical nations, except Russia and Brazil, 
had abolished slavery, these modern statesmen proposed to found 
a republic with slavery as its corner stone. These two systems 
are antagonistic. They were a century behind the time. They 
declared the states individual entities, or sovereignties, in direct 
opposition to the intention of the statesmen who substituted the 
former articles of confederation for a constitution prepared for a 
united country called the United States of America, with a com- 
plete national government. They attempted to found a system 
of government similar to a monarchy with all of the elements of 
feudal despotism, with a formula prepared for a representative 
democracy. Even the constitution of the United States was in- 
consistent before the amendment giving universal suffrage, as it 
failed to prohibit slavery. 

Had these short-sighted leaders of the South been successful, 
there would have been continual war between these sovereign 



Abraham Lincoln 49 



communities, just as there has been continual war between the 
several sovereign states of Europe, none of them satisfied with the 
property they have, always wanting their neighbors.' Austria, 
Russia, Germany, Italy, France, England, Belgium and Turkey, 
with all of the smaller states, have been wrangling with each 
other century after century. They will continue to do so until 
kings, emperors and czars are abolished. 

It is only by having one strong government over the entire coun- 
try comprising the United States, with all the powers necessary 
for maintaining a nation delegated to it, that the broad area ex- 
tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Northern 
Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, can be kept from the continual dis- 
putes about territory prevailing on the continent of Europe. 

To show his position Jefit'erson Davis quoted the following 
words of President Jefferson : "The communities were declaring 
their independence ; the people of those communities were assert- 
ing that no man was born booted and spurred to ride over the 
rest of mankind; that men were created equal — Tneaning the 
men of a political community ; that there was no divine right to 
rule ; that no man inherited the right to govern ; that there were 
no classes by which power and place descended in families, but 
that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member 
of the body politic. These were the great principles they an- 
nounced ; they were the purposes for which they made their dec- 
laration ; these were the ends to which their denunciation was 
directed." 

Jefiferson Davis held that: "They have no reference to the 
slave ; else how happens it, that, among the items of arraignment 
against George the Third, he endeavored to do just what the 
North has been endeavoring of late to do, stir up insurrec- 
tion among our slaves." 

"Had the declaration announced that the negroes were free and 
equal, how was the prince to be arraigned for raising insur- 
rection among them? They, the negroes were not put upon the 
footing of equality with white men." 

He said: "Secession is to be justified upon the basis that the 
states are sovereign. There was a time when none denied it — 
the inalienable rights of the people of the states will prevent 
any one from denying that each state is sovereign, and thus may 
reclaim the grants which it has made to any agent whatsoever. 
A state finding herself in the condition in which Mississippi has 
judged she is, claims to be exempt from any duty to execute the 
laws of the United States within its limits." 

These were the views of Jefferson Davis when President of the 
Southern Confederacy. They were directly opposite to the views 
of Jefferson and Lincoln, presidents of the United States. On 



50 Abraham Lincoln 



these conflicting opinions, held by the two different presidents at 
the time, the war was commenced and was fought until the South- 
ern Confederacy was over-thrown by military force, and the 
authority of the United States government re-established. 

Jefferson Davis, as President of the Southern Confederacy, was 
given almost unlimited power to raise, by draft or otherwise sol- 
diers for the southern army. All white men between eighteen and 
twenty-five were drafted, but owners of estates were allowed ex- 
emption by paying a tax of $500.00 if they were obliged to stay 
at home. Davis was almost a dictator. 

The secession convention of the cotton states had appointed 
delegates equal in number to the former senators and representa- 
tives in congress. These sat in Montgomery, Alabama, on the 
4th day of February, 1861, to form a Southern Confederacy, so 
that it would be fully organized before the 4th of March and be- 
fore Lincoln came into power. The people, however, were not 
called upon to vote for the declaration of secession in the first 
six states. Governor Huston of Texas objected to secession, and 
submitted the ordinance to the voters of his state. 

About the time the South was entering into a war to maintain 
slavery. Czar Alexander II., in his manifesto said, "That a peo- 
ple in which a majority of the agricultural classes was sub- 
jected to serfage, could not rival the European nations in intellect- 
ual progress, and it is clear that in modern warfare success is the 
resultant of all the moral and material forces of the state." 

The Czar liberated 45,863,086 serfs, being the unfreed popula- 
tion of Russia. 23,300,000 were crown peasants. 936,477 were 
peasants of peonage. 20,158,231 were attached to the soil and 
belonged to proprietors. 1,467,378 were domestic servants. 

The edict was issued in 1861. 

Mr. John A. Stephens referring to the war of the South said, 
to Secretary Chase, "It was a war of the oligarchy against 
the people ; that slavery was the basis of the oligarchy, but that 
the perpetuation of slavery was not more their object than the 
despotic power of the class over the mass." 

Though surrounded by scheming and treacherous politicians 
and rebel leaders, corrupting and perverting the legislative and 
judicial branches of the government before and after his election 
in order to foster and perpetuate slavery in the United States, 
Lincoln rose above and overpowered all his opponents, at home 
and abroad and, after a bitter struggle against opposition and 
seemingly insurmountable difficulties, struck the shackles from the 
slave, and left the nation, in fact as well as in name, a nation of 
free men. He not only gave liberty to the negro slave, but he 
gave a more enduring freedom to every living and every future 
citizen and inhabitant of our republic and the world. 



Abraham Lincoln 51 



If owning negroes was an evidence of southern aristocracy, then 
we should hope to be delivered from such a brand. I emphati- 
cally deny that the slave owning, so-called aristocrats of the south 
were justified in their pretenses any more than were the success- 
ful stockjobbers and monopolistic millionaires of the North who 
become rapidly rich by overriding the laws of the country and 
the rules of honest dealing. 

A CARNIVAL OF FRAUD. 

While the traitors and rebels were arming and attacking the 
Union on every side a much worse horde of less courageous ene- 
mies were preying upon the vitals of the country in every depart- 
ment of government. Henry S. Alcott, who was appointed by 
Secretary Stanton to unearth and punish the existing frauds that 
were being perpetrated, gives a graphic description of his ex- 
perience under the caption of "Wars, Carnival of Frauds," in 
the "Annals of the War." He says : 

"Intrigue held the keys to the kitchen stairs of the White House, 
shaped legislation, sat cheek by jowl with Congressmen, and se- 
duced commission ofificers from the straight path of duty. Our 
sailors were sent to sea in ships built of green timbers, which were 
fitted with engines good only for the junk shop, and greased with 
'sperm' oil derived from moss-bunkers and the feet of dead 
horses." 

"In the Navy Yard there was a system of corrupt bargains 
between the public servants and contractors, under which goods 
of inferior quality and short quantity were accepted as the 
lawful standard and count ; public property was purloined and 
carried oflf in open daylight." 

He tells the story of Salmon Kahnstom, "the giver of good din- 
ners" : "His crime consisted in procuring from landlords — gener- 
ally German saloon-keepers — their signatures to blank vouchers 
which his clerks would fill out for one or two thousand dollars 
each, and then either get unprincipled commissary officers to ap- 
pend their certificates for an agreed price or forge them. By this 
device he drew over three hundred thousand dollars from the 
Mustering and Disbursing office in New York, of which sum the 
greater proportion was in due time ascertained by me to be fraud. 

Eight cases of palpable forgery were designated, and the jury 
after deliberating only twenty minutes, brought in a verdict of 
guilty. The court promptly sentenced him to ten years' imprison- 
ment at hard labor at Sing Sing. 

In a civil suit against him, a large sum of money was recov- 
ered and paid over into the Treasury by the Trustees of the 
felon's estate." 

At Louisville fraud had been perpetrated in the purchase of 
animals. A captain and assistant quartermaster stood by and 



52 Abraham Lincoln 



both took part in fraudulent adulteration of grain. They were 
convicted, fined ten thousand dollars and imprisoned for two 
years. 

The delinquent horse, mule, hay, grain and other contractors 
in the Department of the Ohio, were thoroughly punished by 
fines and imprisonments. 

In his "Third Semi-Annual Report" to the War Department, 
Mr. Alcott says : 

"Evidence was elicited tending to show that the abuses of which 
the Commission complained, extend over the whole sea-board. 
The government has been in the habit of paying ruinous prices 
for the charter of vessels, some of which have been perfectly un- 
seaworthy. The precious lives of officers and men, and public 
property to the value of millions of dollars, have been entrusted 
to rotten steam-boat hulks and greedy speculators and middle- 
men have been paid for their use, prices of the most extortionate 
nature." 

"If we trace the history of some of the most aggressive corpora- 
tions and monopolies existing today, we will find they had their 
start during the Civil War, when the two to three billions of 
government paper was being distributed with a free hand to con- 
tractors and manufacturers in many cases by dishonest officers. 
These corporations have not ceased to obtain support from the 
government to the present day. Vast frauds were perpetrated in 
Philadelphia in contracts for tents, canvas goods, clothing, shoes, 
and things of various kinds. In the two years the disbursements 
of the quartermaster has exceeded two hundred million dollars 
and were running at the rate of seventy millions annually." 

Inspectors, contractors, manufacturers, and middlemen were 
arrested, commission officers displaced, trials were followed by 
convictions, fines and assessed damages. New inspectors were 
appointed, new standards established, and abuses were reformed. 

Secretary of War Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Wells, 
were constantly alert and made every efifort to check these frauds. 

The good judgment of President Lincoln was demonstrated in 
his keeping such honest and loyal secretaries in his cabinet as 
i^tanton. Wells, Seward, Chase and Blair, to guard the interests 
of the republic against thieves and enemies within, as well as 
traitors without. 

MR. Lincoln's characteristics. 

In Mr. Lincoln's conduct towards his generals, his cabinet and 
Congress, through his moderation towards the leaders of the re- 
bellion and his willingness to concede everything that it was 



Abraham Lincoln 53 



proper to concede, if they would peaceably uphold the Union and 
the Constitution, he continually acted on the basis of high Chris- 
tian principles. We must acknowledge this to correctly under- 
stand the life of Lincoln and realize the principles which directed 
his actions. These were not usually those prompting the am- 
bitious politicians or public leader. As appears to me, the main 
principles influencing him are the following : 

Forgive your enemies. Do good to them who hate you. 

Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. 

Do not retaliate, or return evil for evil. 

Forgive those who trespass against you. 

In settling a question as to right or wrong, decide for the 
right, however hazardous this may seem. 

Make no compromise with wrong for any temporary advantage. 

Overlook mere personalities in the fight for a great principle. 

In referring to his correspondence with General Butler, De- 
cember, 1864, when there was a conflict between civil and mili- 
tary authorities in West Virginia, Messrs. Nicolay and Hay state : 

"One is always surprised at the ease with which the President 
took up these cases of contention between officials, and in a few 
sentences, pointed out the law and the remedy with such clearness 
as to make it seem that a child ought not to have erred in the 
original decision, but more admirable still, is the benignant and 
charitable spirit with which he overlooked and excused the vanity 
and petulance which so frequently produced them." The manner 
in which he overlooked and forgave the continual criticisms and 
personal slight of Chase and McClellan, while holding official posi- 
tions under him, shows his self-control and firm adherence to 
the principles above enumerated. It was the same when dealing 
with Fremont at the commencement of the War. 

The following is a message of Lincoln to his cabinet : 

"I must myself determine how long to retain in and when 
to remove any of you from this position. It would greatly pain 
me to discover any of you endeavoring to procure another's re- 
moval in any way to prejudice him before the public. Such an 
error would be a wrong to me and much more a wrong to the 
country. My wish is, that on this subject no remarks are made 
nor questions asked by any of you here or elsewhere now or here- 
after." (Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, Vol. 9, p. 339.) 

About the close of the war, Abraham Lincoln expressed the 
hope that there would be no persecution, no bloody work after the 
war was over. None need expect he would take any part in hang- 
ing or killing even the worst of these men. "Frighten them 
out of the country, let down the bars, scare them off," said he, 
throwing up his hands as if to scare sheep. Enough lives have 



54 Abraham Lincoln 



been sacrificed. We must extinguish our resentment if we expect 
harmony and union." (Tarbell's Life of Lincoln.) 

There were few men occupying positions of authority at this 
critical period who could have been entrusted with the almost 
despotic discretionary power vested in the President, who would 
have exercised this power with so much forebearance and wisdom 
as did this patient and considerate man, ordained to fill the respon- 
sible position of executive of a great nation, in the midst of a 
terrible civil war. 

Amidst the confusion and anarchy prevailing in the government 
when Lincoln was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1861, he 
maintained a cool and collected temperament and proceeded to 
bring order in his administration and obedience to the laws of 
the country, nearly one-half of which was in open insurrection. 
He was forced to meet not only armed rebellion in the South, but 
continual bickering, jealousy and discontent among his own ranks. 
The country was without an adequate army or navy and its com- 
manding general was old and unable to assume personal charge 
of what scanty forces could be collected. The treasury was 
nearly empty and many forts and arsenals either in the hands 
of the rebels, or stripped of arms and ammunition. But amidst 
it all, there was one methodical progressive and commanding mind 
constantly at work to fulfill the mission for which he was in- 
tended. 

Through Lincoln's persistance and faith in ultimate success 
when all about him was doubt and fear, he finally brought into 
existence the powerful army well organized and trained by Gen- 
eral George B. McClellan and other generals, to meet and fi- 
nally through Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and other aggressive 
generals, overcome the forces of the Southern Confederacy un- 
der the very efficient leadership of General Robert E. Lee. 



Abraham Lincoln 55 



CHAPTER V. 

ABRAHAM LINCOIvN APPOINTS HIS CABINET. JEFFERSON DAVIS AP- 
POINTS HIS CABINET. ROBERT E. EEE APPOINTED TO TAKE 
COMMAND OF VIRGINIA TROOPS. ENGLAND BUILDS SHIPS FOR 
THE CONFEDERACY AND OTHER EVENTS OF WAR RAPIDLY FOL- 
LOW. NINE SOUTHERN STATES SECEDE. SUMTER FIRED UPON. 

The public libraries contain many books which give in detail 
accounts of the events connected with the Civil War. It is not 
necessary to attempt in this book to re-publish these well known 
incidents — among these works are : Nicolay and Hay's Abraham 
Lincoln ; Henry C. Whitney's Life of Lincoln, and Life on the 
Circuit with Lincoln ; F. F. Browne's Every-day Life of Lin- 
coln; W. O. Stoddard's Lincoln; L N. Arnold's Life of Lincoln; 
Ida M. Tarbell's Life of Lincoln, and the Annals of the War, 
published by the Philadelphia Times. Clark E. Carr, The Illini. 

Those wishing to obtain a correct understanding of the respon- 
sibilities of Abraham Lincoln as President and. Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army and Navy, should read about the many engage- 
ments on land and sea between the Union and Confederate forces, 
ending in the complete exhaustion of the South, and the final 
victory of the North. 

His was the controlling mind, directing through the complicated 
machinery of the numerous departments of the government and 
the changing events of the army and navy, the movements of the 
vast array of forces which finally gained the victory desired, and 
peace and unity was secured. 



EVENTS OF THE WAR. 

A resolution offered by Jefferson Davis in the Senate, to ex- 
tend slavery into the territories was voted down. William L. 
Yancy, of Alabama, representing the southern states at Charleston, 
April 23rd, made this the main plank of the democratic party. 
October 16, i860. 

Before the beginning of the war, John Brown entered Virginia 
at Harper's Ferry, in order to incite an insurrection among the 
slaves, without any warrant or justification, in opposition to law 
and order. He was captured by Col. Robert E. Lee, under 



56 Abraham Lincoln 



orders from Washington, and after trial he finally was hanged 
with six other companions, December 7, i860. 

Congress met at Washington and considered the secession prob- 
lem. President Buchanan denied the southern states the right 
to secede but held that congress had no power under the Consti- 
tution "to coerce into submission a state which is attempting to 
withdraw, or has actually withdrawn." He said: "The fact is, 
our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented 
by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war." 

Attorney-General Black sustained him in this view. The House 
of Representatives appointed a committee of thirty-three members 
who stated that "any reasonable, proper, and constitutional reme- 
dies, and effectual guarantees of their political rights and interests 
should be promptly and cheerfully given to the southern states." 
December 18, i860: 

The Senate also appointed a committee which reported later 
that it was "not able to agree upon any general plan of com- 
promise." 
November 8, i860: 

The Palmetto flag was hoisted in South Carolina and the 
United States officers there resigned. Senators Chesnut and 
Hammond resigned. 

Georgia appropriated $1,000,000 to arm the state. 

Louisiana appropriated $50,000, for military purposes. 
December 17th: 

The South Carolina convention met at Columbia, adjourned and 
moved to Charleston on account of small-pox. 
December 20th : 

South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Secession, and asked 
the other southern states to meet at Montgomery, Alabama. 
Howell Cobb and John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, were forced 
to resign; and Joseph Holt succeeded the latter in the War De- 
partment, i ' 

When Lewis Cass resigned, Jeremiah S. Black took his place 
as Secretary of State and Edwin M. Stanton became Attorney- 
General in Buchanan's Cabinet. Philip F. Thomas became Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, taking the place of Howell Cobb. 
December 31st: 

The flag of the United States was taken down by rebels from 
the Arsenal at Charleston. 

1861. 

January 3rd : 

The Governor of Alabama seized the arsenal at Mt. Vernon, 
and Forts Pulaski and Jackson were taken by the rebels. 



Abraham Lincoln 57 



January nth : 

Major Robert Anderson was called upon to surrender Fort 
Sumter, which he refused to do. 
January 9th : 

Mississippi seceded. 
January loth: 

Florida seceded. 
January nth: 

Alabama seceded. 
January 19th: 

Georgia seceded. 
January 26th : 

Louisiana seceded. 
January 21st : 

Kansas admitted as a free state. 
February ist : 

Texas seceded. 

Jefferson Davis leaves the Senate after making a speech giving 
his views on the Constitution, which he considered warranted 
the States in seceding from the Union. 
February 9th : 

Jeft'erson Davis chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens 
Vice-President, of the provisional government of the Confederate 
States of America. Convention met at Montgomery, and Davis 
was inaugurated February i8th. 
February 19th : 

Russia frees all the serfs by an imperial ukase issued by the 
Czar, Alexander II., which liberated 45,863,085 individuals. This 
was accomplished without bloodshed, under a monarchical govern- 
ment at a time when nearly half of the States of the Republic 
took up arms in order to establish, through bloodshed and re- 
bellion against the government, the extension and permanency 
of slavery in their boasted free country. 
February 4 : 

Delegates from the seceding states met at Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, in a Constitutional Convention, to organize a provisional 
government for the Confederate States. On the same day a Peace 
Conference met at Washington at the request of the Virginia 
Legislature, but accomplished nothing. 
March 4th : 

President Abraham Lincoln was duly inaugurated President of 
the United States at Washington, where he arrived safely after a 
perilous journey (a plot being formed to assassinate him) under 
protection of Pinkerton's detectives. 
March 6th : 

The Confederate government issued a call for 100,000 men; 



58 Abraham Lincoln 



269 officers resigned from the Federal army and joined the Con- 
federate forces, as well as many West Point graduates. 

The Army of the Cumberland was established. 
April nth: 

Jefferson Davis demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter, which 
Major Anderson again refused. 
April 1 2th: 

Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation offering "letters of 
marque and reprisal" under the Confederate States on privateers 
of all nations. 

President Lincoln issued a warning to all those who acted under 
these letters of marque, that they would be "held amenable to 
the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment 
of piracy." 

Fort Sumter, S. C. 

April 12, 1861, 3:20 A. M. 
Sir: 

By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard, command- 
ing the provisional forces of the Confederate States, we have the 
honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries upon 
Fort Sumter in one hour from this time. 

We have the honor to be, 

Very respectfully your very obedient servants, 

James Chesnut, Jr., 

Aide-de-camp 

Stephen D. Lee, 
Captain, C. S. Army, Aide-de-camp. 



To Major Robert Anderson, 
U. S. Army, commanding 
Fort Sumter. 

"At 4:30 A. M. the silence was broken by the discharge of a 
mortar from a battery near Fort Johnson within easy range of the 
work : a shell rose high in the air and broke directly over Fort 
Sumter ; its echo died away, and all was still again, when suddenly 
fire was opened from every battery of the enemy." (The first 
shot against the flag was fired by Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia.) 

On the 13th Major Anderson consented to evacuate the fort 
and the garrison was transferred to the large transport lying off 
the bar and was soon on its way north. 



Abraham Lincoln 59 



FORT SUMTER A DIARY ENTRY. 

April i6, 1861, I made the following entry in my journal : "Day 
before yesterday came the news of the taking of Fort Sumter, 
and the capture of Major Robert Anderson and his men (this was 
the officer who twenty-nine years before had signed Abraham Lin- 
coln's release from service in the Black Hawk War). The bom- 
bardment of Fort Sumter by the Secessionists has awakened the 
country from the nightmare of apprehension and indecision which 
has long paralyzed it. The Lion of the North has been fully 
aroused. Yesterday came the demand for troops by Lincoln from 
all the states ; he issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 men 
for three months' service. Things look fearful in every direc- 
tion concerning the future of our country, and it is only when I 
turn from the threatening storm and look upon the delightful 
opening of summer, that I am reminded of the peace and harmony 
of nature, and hope for a restoration of harmony among my 
countrymen. The condition of the nation now reminds me of the 
turmoil of the Atlantic in some terrific storm, several of which 
I have experienced. I am in hopes this tempest will soon blow 
over and leave the Union intact, and that in the change that will 
come the extension of slavery will be checked, or be entirely abol- 
ished in the United States ; and also that the banking system, or 
lack of system, with its present evils, will be rectified and the 
country be put on a sound financial basis, and wild-cat banks be 
eliminated." 

"When I reflect upon the present threatened strife between the 
Southern and the Northern States, I shudder with apprehension 
for the Union, but every one I meet seems to have full confidence 
in Lincoln's ability to handle the situation. It has, however, been 
a time of disorder, and fear of impending evil ever since I ar- 
rived in America on my return from my two years' absence in 
Europe." 

This assault upon a United States fort by the rebels resounded 
around the world and fired the patriotic hearts of the loyal North. 
This was a fatal blunder on the part of the South. 



CALL FOR TROOPS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Whereas, the laws of the United States have been for some 
time past, and now are opposed and the execution thereof ob- 
structed in the States of South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Flor- 
ida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas by combinations too power- 
ful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceeding 
or by the powers vested in the marshals by law. 



60 Abraham Lincoln 



Now Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, in virtue of the power in me vested led by the Constitution, 
and the laws, have thought fit to call forth and hereby do call 
forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the ag- 
gregate number of 75,000, in order to suppress said combinations 
and to cause the laws to be duly executed. 

The details of this object will be immediately communicated 
to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal 
to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to main- 
tain the honor, the integrity and existence of our National Union, 
and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs 
already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the 
first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will prob- 
ably be to repossess the forts, places and property which have been 
seized from the Union, and in every event the utmost care will 
be observed constantly with the object aforesaid, to avoid any 
devastation, any destruction of, or interference with property, or 
any disturbance of peaceful citizens, in any part of the country; 
and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations 
aforesaid to disperse and retire peacefully to their respective 
abodes in twenty-four days from this date. 

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents 
an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in 
me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. 
Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assem- 
ble at their respective chambers at 12 o'clock noon, on Thursday, 
the 4th day of July next, then and there to consider and deter- 
mine such measures as in their wisdom the public safety and in- 
terest may seem to demand. 

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the Seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this 15th day of April, in the 
year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-one, and 
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

By the President, 

William H. Seward, 
Secretary of State. 

The actual writing of this extraordinary document was done 
in the few hours following the arrival of the news of the fall of 
Fort Sumter, but it presents no marks of sudden or hasty work. 
(Stoddard.) 



Abraham Lincoln 61 



EVENTS OF THE WAR, CONTINUED. 

April 17th: 

Virginia secedes but the western counties remaining loyal and 
afterwards were formed into a new state called West Virginia. 

The convention passing the ordinance of secession approved 
the policy of the President. 
April 19th: 

A rigid blockade was declared at all ports within the states of 
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louis- 
iana and Texas, and on the 27th of April this was extended to 
the ports of North Carolina and Virginia. 



THE TWO PRESIDENTS AND THEIR CABINETS CONTRASTED. 

Abraham Lincoln — starting as a poor boy born in a log cabin 
and without illustrious lineage or material advantages, but ac- 
complishing great things stood before the world as the ideal of 
American liberty. The forces arrayed against him were aimed 
against this ideal and not against his personality. Every shot 
fired by those who seceded from the republic and every discour- 
agement to the Union from abroad was aimed at liberty and 
against the bulwarks of a government whose corner stone was 
independence. 

Jefiferson Davis claimed he was fighting for independence ; this 
had never been denied him, but he denied it to others. He posed 
as the liberator of the abused South, which had never been de- 
prived of liberty, so far as the white race was concerned, except 
the liberty of slave owners to extend slavery into the territories 
or into the free states. 

Many of the generals who were educated and instructed in mili- 
tary tactics by the United States, instead of defending the Repub- 
lic, assailed with their battalions the capitol of their own country 
seeking to destroy the Temple of Liberty and the Union which 
their forefathers, in some cases of revolutionary times helped to 
establish. Their fellow countrymen, whom they were attacking, 
had no desire to take anything from them as they finally were 
forced to admit when the war was terminated and General Robert 
E. Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox. They were 
granted most liberal terms, and Lee and his men were allowed 
their sidearms, horses and personal efifects. 

In the great tragedy of the Nineteenth Century, culminating in 
the victory of the Unionists over the Confederates, the citizens 
of the United States were divided into two distinct and antago- 



62 Abraham Lincoln 



nistic groups ; on the one side were the loyal Unionists, Repub- 
licans and War Democrats ; on the other side were the disloyal 
Secessionists. 

Abraham Lincoln, being duly elected President, according to 
the provision of the Constitution in i860, under a strict construc- 
tion of the Constitution all the citizens of all the states were 
bound to recognize him as the legitimate head of the nation. 

William H. Seward was appointed Secretary of State, who as 
senator had stood for the Union in Washington, and had assisted 
Lincoln in every way possible during all the plottings and dangers 
which surrounded him before he took the oath of office, March 4, 
1861. 

Salmon P. Chase was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. 
For many years he had been an advocate of human liberty, and 
was opposed to the extension of slavery. He was loyal to the 
Union from the first. 

Simon Cameron was appointed Secretary of War, but was 
soon retired and sent as minister to Russia, being succeeded by 
Edwin M. Stanton, who had been the watch dog and the con- 
trolling mind of the War Department under Buchanan, after John 
B. Floyd was forced out of the Cabinet for disloyalty and fraud. 
Here Stanton fought the Secessionists whom he found in office 
in Washington. He proved himself to be a loyal and courageous 
Secretary of War in the Cabinet during Lincoln's administration 
and until his chief was assassinated. He then held the same posi- 
tion under President Andrew Johnson. 

Gideon Wells was appointed Secretary of the Navy, Caleb B. 
Smith, Secretary of the Interior, Edward Bates, Attorney-Gener- 
al and Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General. This composed 
Lincoln's Cabinet. 

By the selection of these men the president showed his wisdom 
and keen insight into the character and qualifications of the men 
on whom he had to depend for assistance in their several depart- 
ments during the fearful crisis which had been precipitated upon 
the country. Most of those selected had been given superior edu- 
cational advantages in their early years to those given Mr. Lincoln, 
and some of these gentlemen presumed at times to be better qual- 
ified than he was to direct public afifairs ; yet, although Mr. Lin- 
coln would listen to the individual advice of the different mem- 
bers of the Cabinet, he finally acted with dignity and directness 
and followed out the course he himself considered in his judg- 
ment to be right. 

Jefferson Davis, who was elected President of the Southern 
Confederacy, was born January 5, 1808 in Christian County, Ken- 
tucky. He was a cadet at West Point from 1824 to 1828, ap- 
pointed by President Monroe, taking the oath of loyalty to the 



Abraham Lincoln 63 



United States, and receiving the advantages of an education at 
the government's expense which enabled him to hold the different 
official positions which he subsequently occupied. Robert E. 
Lee was a classmate of his. Jefferson Davis was a colonel in the 
Mexican War, where he fought to obtain more territory for 
slavery ; he was a lieutenant of dragoons in the regular army. 
In 1844 he was elected to the United States House of Representa- 
tives ; for four years he was a representative from Mississippi. 
In 1858 he was Secretary of War under President Pierce. He 
was twice United States Senator, 1847-1851 and 1857-1861, and at 
one time Governor of Mississippi. 

He was the leading spirit in the rebellion, using all the available 
men, and all the treasure possessed by the slave states to an- 
nihilate the government of the United States. He sought to 
establish an empire in the western world in antagonism to the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence, with slavery as 
its corner stone. 

The cabinet appointed by Jefferson Davis was as follows : Rob- 
ert Toombs, Secretary of War, who had formerly been a member 
of the Senate but, favoring disunion, had been expelled. He 
was a graduate of Union College, 1828, and of the Law University 
of Virginia, 1830. His term in the United States Senate extended 
from 1853 to 1861. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to 
the United States. After the war he resumed the practice of 
the law and made a fortune of $500,000. 

S. K. Mallory was appointed Secretary of the Navy, J. H. 
Reagan, Postmaster-General, and A. G. Benjamin, Attorney- 
General. 

President Davis appointed Robert E. Lee to take command of 
the Virginia troops. Lee afterwards became the leading figure in 
the southern army. 

In January 186 1 a provisional government had been organized 
by the southern states which passed the ordinance of secession. 
Jurisdiction over public property in the harbor of Charleston was 
assumed by it, and Brigadier-General G. T. Beauregard, who 
had resigned his commission in the regular army, was commis- 
sioned by the Confederate government to go to Charleston and 
take command of the field of operations. 

Through the complicity of England, for which she was later 
compelled to pay an indemnity of 3,000,000 pounds to those who 
were damaged in the United States by vessels built in England 
for the Southern Confederacy, the rebel leaders were enabled to 
fit out privateers and prey upon the merchant vessels of the United 
States with impunity. Two of these vessels, the Alabama and the 
Florida, would raise the English flag if it would aid them in their 
villainous piracy, capture prizes and then run past the United 



64 Abraham Lincoln 



States vessels blockading southern ports. The Lancaster, com- 
manded by Captain Semmes, did considerable damage until finally 
it was diasabled by the Tuscarora, the Chippewa, and the Kear- 
sarge at Gibraltar. Captain Semmes sold his vessel and discharged 
his men. The Florida, after it had inflicted an immense amount 
of damage on American shipping was at last destroyed by the 
United States sloop of war Wachusett in the port of Bahia, 
Brazil. The Alabama, under charge of Captain Semmes with an 
English crew and gunners, after driving many United States mer- 
chant ships from the seas, and destroying many sailing vessels, 
and every variety of shipping, was at last compelled to encounter 
the United States sloop of war Kearsarge, commanded by Cap- 
tain Winslow, beyond the three mile limit, off Cherbourg, France, 
and was overpowered and sunk. 
April 1 6th: 

Massachusetts Sixth Regiment mustered upon Boston Common, 
equipped for action, and was on its way to Washington by the 
17th ; and on the i8th it reached Baltimore and in passing through 
that city was attacked by a mob of secession sympathizers. The 
self-control of the troops prevented casualties of any serious 
nature. The regiment reached Washington without any further 
interference. 
April 19th: 

The New York Seventh Regiment also reached Washington. 
April 20th : 

Every precaution was taken and every available means was em- 
ployed to protect the capital against the threatened attack from 
the rebels. The rebel Secretary of War boasted that the Confed- 
erate Bars would soon float over the capitol itself. 
April 20th : 

Navy Yard and Gosport, Virginia, burned. 
April 25th : 

U. S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry burned. 
May 6th : 

Arkansas secedes. 
May 7th : 

Tennessee joined the Confederacy. 
May 20th : 

North Carolina seceded. 
May 13th: 

General Butler, with less than 1000 men, entered Baltimore at 
night and soon had the city under command with his guns in 
position. The President authorized him to suspend the writ of 
habeas corpus. 

Washington was soon placed in a safe condition and the threat- 



Abraham Lincoln 65 

ened siege raised. A guard was kept at Long Bridge, over the 
Potomac, to prevent its destruction. 
May 24th : 

The Union troops marched into Virginia, and strong earth- 
works were constructed upon the heights commanding the ap- 
proaches to Washington on the Virginia side. 

EVENTS OF 1862. 

Emperor Louis Napoleon commences his strategic movements 
in Mexico, which he sought to control ; this was considered a 
violation of the Monroe Doctrine and it was deemed by the 
United States that he was taking advantage under cover of the 
Civil War, in order to get a foothold in Mexico, as the United 
States was using all its military force in fighting the Southern 
Confederacy. He was cautioned not to interfere with the affairs 
of Mexico, but did not withdraw until 1864. 
January 7th : 

General Curtis, under command of General Halleck, defeats 
the Rebels at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. 

General Don Carlos Buell supersedes General W. T. Sher- 
man in the Department of the Cumberland. 
February. 

Fort Henry is captured by General U. S. Grant, also Fort Don- 
elson, with the aid of Rear-Admiral Andrew Hall Foot with six 
gun-boats. 

Brig. General John B. Floyd, Lieut. General Nathaniel B. For- 
rest and General Gideon J. Pillow, Confederate generals, escaped 
before the surrender. 
February 16: 

General Simon B. Buckner surrendered with 15,000 men. 
April 6 and 7 : 

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson who was in command at the battle 
of Shiloh, was killed, and the command of the army passed Gen- 
eral G. T. Beauregard. Confederate loss, 10,700. 

President Lincoln early in the war determined to obtain con- 
trol of the Mississippi in its entire length. In pursuance of this 
plan, Island No. 10 on the north and Forts Jackson and St. Philip 
on the south had been captured, and New Orleans occupied 
by our troops. In the spring of 1862, and in the fall of the year, 
General McClernand was assigned to the command of a river ex- 
pedition against Vicksburg. He captured Arkansas Post Janu- 
ary nth, and camped near Vicksburg. Farragut's flagship ac- 
companied by the "Hartford" and an ironclad gun-boat rapidly 
passed Port Hudson. Later Porter passed Vicksburg. The Con- 
federates were driven back from Fort Gibson. MacPherson 
commanded the road to Vicksburg. 



66 Abraham Lincoln 



May /th, Generals MacPherson, McClernand, and Sherman 
simultaneously moved toward Richmond where the Confeder- 
ates were massed. Grant assaulted Vicksburg on the 22nd, los- 
ing 3,000 men. He again decided a siege was necessary. 

By June 8th the investment was complete, and 30,000 extra 
troops were ready to repel attacks from the rear. 

General Pemberton, the Confederate general, whose men had 
been in the trenches for several weeks, offered to surrender. 

Pemberton and Grant met and completed negotiations and 
24,000 soldiers marched out of the forts on the 4th of June and 
laid down their arms. 

Logan's division marched into Vicksburg hoisting the United 
States flag. 

Grant was made Major General, Sherman and MacPherson 
Brigadiers. 

July 9th, Port Hudson surrendered to General Banks, with 
6,000 men, 51 pieces of artillery, 5,000 small arms, and military 
stores. 

This opened the entire Mississippi River which had long been 
the earnest desire of President Lincoln. 

The election resulted in Lincoln receiving 180 electoral votes; 
Breckinridge 72; Bell 39; Douglas 12. Lincoln received the vote 
of every free state except New Jersey, which gave to Douglas 
all but four votes which she gave to Lincoln. Missouri gave 
Douglas 9 votes ; those of the other southern states were divided 
between Bell and Breckinridge. 

Lincoln, 1,857.610; Douglas, 1,291,574; Breckinridge, 850,082; 
Bell, 646,124. (Greeley's American Conflict, vol, i, p. 328.) 

The election of Abraham Lincoln was a demonstration that 
the country was opposed to slavery. Up to that time the North 
had been grossly deceived on the subject. The people had all the 
time been betrayed by the politicians ; they had been unable to 
make their sentiment known. The pro-slavery vote was only 
22.4 per cent of the total. Breckinridge lacked 135,057 of a 
majority in the slave states. 

Neither Mr. Lincoln, nor the Republican Party, thought of any 
unlawful or over-extreme measure against slavery. The fear- 
ful responsibility of the terrible conflict must therefore be placed 
with the secessionists says Mr. Ingersoll. 

E. R. Ulrich, my brother, then a lumber merchant of Spring- 
field, together with a number of other business men, presented 
Abraham Lincoln before he left Springfield with a fine dress- 
suit which he wore at his first inaugural. 



Abraham Lincoln 67 



CHAPTER VI. 



COI.. EIvME;r ELLSWORTH. — HIS ASSASSINATION. ZOUAVES HOLD 

LAST REUNION. 

St. Louis Globe-Democrat: "Yes," said Mr. Frederick B. 
Brownell yesterday, conversing with a Globe-Democrat reporter 
at his car factory on North Broadway, "the announcement of the 
appointment of Miss AmeHa Jackson the other day to a position 
in the Patent Office at Washington recalls the tragic incident of 
Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth's death at the hands of that young lady's 
father in the Marshall House at Alexandria, Va., in the early days 
of the War. A mistake has been made, however, in attributing 
to me the honor of avenging Col. Ellsworth's death. Jackson, the 
slayer of Col. Ellsworth, was killed by my brother, Lieut. Frank 
P. Brownell, who now lives at Detroit. He is on the retired army 
list. Frank was the eldest child of the family. 

"But first let me say something of Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth and 
his regiment. Ellsworth was but little over 2t^ years old when he 
met his death at the Marshall House, in Alexandria. He was 
a native of the town of Mechanicsville, twelve miles from Troy. 
He had nothing but a common-school education. When a mere 
boy he w^ent to New York City, w^here he obtained work and la- 
bored hard in his leisure hours to fit himself to enter West Point. 
Having no influential friends, he failed to get a cadetship. After 
about four years in New York, he went to Chicago. He was 
then about 20 years old. My brother Frank has his diary, given 
him by the dead officer's parents. The diary shows how deeply 
the young man was imbued with the military spirit. He seemed 
to have had a presentiment of the great struggle that was soon 
to convulse the Nation. It was during those days that he formed 
his famous company of the Ellsworth Zouaves. My recollection 
is that he became connected, while in Chicago, with the Adjutant- 
General's office of Illinois. His company was composed of young 
men of his own age. He inspired them with the same love of 
military glory that burned in his own breast. During the day each 
of the young zouaves worked at his vocation, for, like their 
captain, they were not rich in the world's goods. At night they 
drilled several hours in their armory, and there they slept. This 
was during the time they were preparing for their celebrated tour 
of the Northern cities. That tour took place in the stormy days 



68 Abraham Lincoln 



of '60. Every city the handsome Ellsworth and his dashing 
zouaves visited was wrought up to a frenzy of enthusiasm by the 
brilliant evolution and marvelous drill of the company. I remem- 
ber when they came to Troy, the whole town went wild over them. 
Business was suspended, stores were closed, and merchants and 
clerks repaired to the field where they were camped, to witness 
their drilling. 

"He was a protege of Abraham Lincoln before he was elected 
President, and the latter may have helped the young men with 
written recommendations to those in high places in New York. 
His talents, energy, and indomitable will did the rest. He raised, 
enuipped and armed a regiment of nearly 1,200 men in New York 
City in a few days, when other Colonels were weeks and months 
in getting their complements of men. 

''Washington, when Ellsworth's regiment arrived, was one vast 
military babel. It was full of undisciplined men, camp-followers, 
and adventurers of every character, and depredations and acts of 
outlawry were frequent. The Ellsworth Zouaves were recruited 
mainly from the fire boys of New York. They Avere full of spirit, 
wild, and rollicksome. There had been no time to discipline 
them. Many of the depredations that were committed in Wash- 
ington in the early days of '61 were attributed to them. Their 
young commander felt these aspersions keenly. He went in person 
to President Lincoln and besought him to let his command form 
the advance of the movement then ordered into Virginia. The 
President refused, giving as his reason the extreme youth of the 
commander and the fear that he would not be able to control the 
wild, insubordinate men under him when they got into hostile ter- 
ritory. 

"Then Ellsworth repHed : 'Mr. President, if, on this march 
my men shall be guilty of any act that will reflect disgrace on 
them or discredit to myself, I pledge you my word of honor they 
shall be mustered out of service or merged into other com- 
mands.' 

"Lincoln granted Ellsworth's request to let his regiment be the 
vanguard of the army of the United States in its first advance on 
Richmond. As an incident of the stay of the Ellsworth Zouaves 
in Washington I will mention that they were quartered in the base- 
ment of the Capitol. One night Willard's Hotel caught fire. The 
Zouaves, who were nearly all firemen, rushed to the various en- 
gine-houses, got out the apparatus, and suppressed the flames al- 
most before the local Washington firemen were aware that there 
had been anything unusual going on. 

"It w^as early on the morning of the 24th of May, 1861, when 
the several regiments ordered into Virginia began their march. 
The advance was made in two columns, one marching by the long 



Abraham Lincoln 69 



bridge into Virginia, the other by the chain bridge from George- 
town. No trumpet or soul-stirring drum betrayed their move- 
ments in the darkness. Down the avenue sounded the tread of 
many feet. The scene at the bridges must have been impressive 
beyond description. The night was cool and clear, with myriad 
stars, that veiled their splendor as the moon rolled up the sky on 
the \"irginia side of the Potomac, flecking the river with patches 
of light, throwing grotesque shadows from the towers and arches 
of the bridges, and causing the muskets, sabres, and ordnance to 
glitter wuth reflected flashes among the compact masses of soldiery 
moving forward to the ominous accompaniment of clashing sabres 
and rumbling cannon. The Ellsworth Zouaves went down to 
Alexandria by steamer. They disembarked in the darkness just 
before dawn. 

"At daybreak Col. Ellsworth ordered a squad detained from 
Company A to proceed up into the town of Alexandria and cut 
the telegraph wires. There were eight, all told, in the party, in- 
cluding the Colonel, the Chaplain of the regiment, and a news- 
paper correspondent. They marched right up the principal street 
of the town. Col. Ellsworth was the first, perhaps, to espy the 
Rebel flag floating over the Marshall House. He said nothing 
until the squad had gone fully a block past the hotel. Then he 
ordered the men to right about face and marched back to the 
house over which the insulting emblem floated. As the soldiers 
entered the house they encountered a man in his shirt-sleeves. He 
seemed excited, more from fear than anything else. Col. Ells- 
worth demanded: 'Who hoisted that flag?' 

" T don't know,' said the man ; 'I am only a boarder here.' 

"The soldiers marched up the stairs. The house was an old- 
fashioned brick, two stories high, and with an attic from which 
dormer windows led out upon the roof. Col. Ellsworth borrowed 
a knife from one of the men named Wisner, mounted the roof, 
and cut down the flag. Then the return to the street was begun. 
Aly brother, Frank E. Brownell led the way; Col. Ellsworth 
followed with the flag in his hand, and behind him came the news- 
paper correspondent. 

"As my brother reached the landing on the stairs, between the 
second and third stories, the same man whom they had en- 
countered when they entered the house rushed from a room near 
the stairway. He held a double-barreled shotgun in his hand, and 
quick as a flash aimed it at Col. Ellsworth. j\Iy brother was 
armed with an old-fashioned Springfield rifle, with a sword bay- 
onet fixed on the end of it. His weapon was too long to handle 
quickly. He stepped back, threw down his gun on the assassin, 
and, as the latter discharged the deadly contents into the breast 
of Col. Ellsworth, shot him through the center of the face. 



70 Abraham Lincoln 



Brother Frank did not know, in the excitement, whether he had 
hit the man or not, and, immediately after firing the shot drove 
his sword bayonet through the man's (Jackson's) body, pushing 
him down the remaining section of the stairway. The death of 
both men was instantaneous. Col. Ellsworth fell forward on his 
face, flooding the floor with his blood. Jackson, his assassin, fell 
at the foot of the stairs on his back as soon as the bayonet was 
withdrawn from his body. Col. Ellsworth's remains were laid 
out on a bed in one of the rooms of the house in which he was 
murdered. His death did more to enkindle patriotism and swell 
the volunteer enlistments in the North than any other incident. 
I can remember the words of the telegram my brother sent home 
on the occasion of his killing Jackson. The message was short. 
It read : 

" 'Father. Col. Ellsworth was shot dead this morning. I killed 
his murderer." 

"Many have blamed Col. Ellsworth for rashness and impetuous- 
ness in tearing down the Rebel flag. My brother believes he had 
in mind his promise to the President. He feared his men, seeing 
the emblem of disloyalty floating about the Marshall House, might 
be frenzied into committing acts of destruction. He retraced his 
steps with the purpose of removing the aggravating symbol of re- 
bellion. The gallant martyr sleeps at Mechanicsville. His blood 
stained uniform, the Rebel flag he tore from the Marshall House, 
and the shotgun of Jackson are, I think, inclosed in a glass case 
in the capitol at Albany." 

THE FALL OF ELLSWORTH. 

WRITTEN THE DAY AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF ELLSWORTH. 

SCENE I. 

Headquarters ist Zouaves, — Camp Lincoln, Washington, May 
28th, 1 86 1. 

Characters — col. Ellsworth, mr. brownell, capt. john 
WILEY, and others. 
Ellsworth, {slozvly pacing the room; in an undertone, his eyes 

bent upon the floor.) 
My pen beneath the quivering light doth shine, 
Just used to bid my parents fond adieus, 
And needeth but my touch again to form 
Fond lines of comfort to her fearful heart. 



Note.— No apology is needed for inserting this youthful production. Every 
piece of writing, diary, newspaper or hand-bill of the time is a source of history. 
The above lines were written by the author at the time of the tragedy and 
published in a local paper. It was also distributed among recruits. I belonged 
to a Springfield Company of Zouaves before I went to Europe. 



Abraham Lincoln 71 



Her, — did none hear me? Secret is our love. 
My country, know'st thou what the sacrifice 
In changeless daring I would make for thee? 
The rent of youthful loving hearts, how keen! 
The nightly parting, fearful ne'er again 
Upon this battle raging earth to meet? 
Sacrifice, said I ! Ah, glad the death 
Bestowed for thee, thou banner in the night, 
, Besprinkled o'er with stars that brilliant shine 
As those that fill yon cloudless realms above ! 
And ye proud lands, that stretch serene around, 
In gentle slumbers at the midnight watch 
Death ! The word did never thus awake my thoughts ; 
The warrior's gasp, his groan, his spirit's flight, 
Ah whence? Why rushes up the tide of life 
Days, deeds, and thoughts oblivious long. 
And many cherished ties to earth and life? 
Why ponders o'er those weeping friends, my mind, 
That chamber trod by solitary feet ? 
Nay, let alone the pen, for thou wilt fill 
Her tender sympathy with thoughtless pain. 
My mother, thou wilt soothe her early loss. 
And she will cherish thee, remembering thine. 

Captain Wilder. 

Well, Colonel, why dost thou not dress ? 'tis time — 
Our boys are nearly all now in the ranks. 

Ellsworth. 

Why, my good fellow, you have moved so still 
I thought that I was in the room alone ! 
Ah Captain, I was thinking of the garb 
I should prefer to robe me in to die I 

Captain Wilder. 

Why, my good fellow, dost thou think of death? 

Yon beauteous flag shall wave o'er all the land. 

O'er cities North, and South, and East, and West, 

And many a traitor to his country's trust 

Will by the neck be hung, or thrust from thence 

An exile, branded in the face with shame. 

I hope, before thou shalt be called to die. 



72 Ahrahmn Lincoln 



Ellsworth, 

If I tomorrow must be shot, I'll die 
In this same suit, as yet unworn and new. 
That then will be my end, I have, as 'twere 
A sure presentiment. Yes, my country needs 
Immediately my blood, and it shall flow. 

Captain Wilder. 

Be not so anxious of so great a grief, 

Thy country needs thee and thy valiant arm. 

[Song — "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," heard in the camp. 
Bxit hoth.l 



SCENE 2. 

Alexandria, 5 hours after the preceding. 
Characters — col. Ellsworth, rev. e. w. dodge, erownell, and 
others. Body of the regiment landing on the wharf, Dayton, 
private, great friend to Ellsworth. 

Ellsworth. 

First, Winser, Ave will seize the telegraph, 

Thus cutting off connection with the South. 

I think, friend Dodge, and Brownell, we'll suffice 

For carrying out this end. And you there — 

Squad in front — just follow us behind. 

This place seems dreaming yet, unconscious all 

The treading in its midst of patriot troops. 

And knoweth not the day. Ha ! there ! ha ! ha ! 

A palmate floating in the lazy breeze. 

Down, down from yonder height, ye treacherous rag, 

Signal afar of traitors and their haunts. 

Long visible from Washington, and camps 

Of those for honor fighting, and the stars. 

Come, noble comrades, haste your steps, and we 

Will drag it in the dust in little time. 

Brownell and others. 

Advance — we'll follow. Cursed be the flag ! 

[They near the Marshall House, over which the secession flag 
floats.] 



Abrahmn Lincoln 73 



ElIvSWORTH. 

Here, here it hangs, above this traitor's house ; 
And who be ye then stranger, clad so spare ; 
What flag is that which waveth o'er your head? 
Flee, flee its shelter, or 'twill see your blood, 
While dragged along the streets with honest hands ! 

Jackson. 

Naught but a traveler stopping for the night, 

Ellsworth, (springing up stairs.) 
Comrades, follow. [^Gains the roof.'] 

Winser, hand your knife, 
That I may snap the cord that doth sustain 
So vile a sight before the eyes of men. 

WiNSER. 

Here Elmer. 

Ellsworth. [Cuts the rope and takes the flag.] 

Never more unconscious wind 
Wilt thou assist the waving of these stripes, 
That did pollute thee with its nervous flap, 
And dimmed as some dark cloud our country's sky. 

[Folding the flag, Ellsworth follows Brownell down stairs, and 
the rest follow. At the landing Jackson springs forward and 
shoots Ellsworth.] 

Brownell and others. — 'Vile assassin 
Ellsworth. — My God ! [Falls.] 

Brownell, (shoots Jackson.) 

Die! traitor! die! (Thrusts him.) 
With that, and that, and that, for thy foul deed. 
See, comrades ; weltering in his blood, the youth ! 
Be thou a guard, and I shall quickly load ; 
We know not who doth lurk about us here. 

Winser. 

Poor Elmer ! beauteous, e'en in death, thy face, 
And mingled with thy blood, yet warm, thy locks 
Do gather round thy temples dark and rich. 
Sweet youth ! how sudden was this call for thee ! 
How innocent the smile, that lingering, throws 
Such godlike beauty o'er thy soulless form ! 



74 Abraham Lincoln 



Rev. E. W. Dodge. 

My comrades, let us lift him from this spot 
See how his blood has purged this crouching flag 
From all the treason it proclaimed to earth ; 
Would like a ransom innocently slain, 
As Christ for sin, he for this land could be, 
And those who wrongly war, should see the right, 
And loathe to shed such nobly flowing blood, 
Or blood of their own youth, who causeless fight, 
Ne'er injured by the hands they strive against ! 

[The regiment comes near. Roll of the drum heard. They hear 
of the fall of their leader and gaining the house crowd to see him. 
Weeping heard among the Zouaves.] 

Dayton. 

Hung be the heaven's with black, turn day to night, 

Weep ocean, briny tears, and scatter earth 

Ye falling dews, with sorrowing drops. 

Dimmed let the moon appear, and wait ye stars, 

To see him lowered 'neath the crying earth ; 

And Freedom's daughters, ponder o'er the loss ; 

And youthful heirs of liberty attend, 

And buckling on your swords, avenge the deed ; 

Ye old men, cherish now your sons the more. 

And mothers, teach your sons of lasting life; 

Think, nations all, the gloomy ways of war. 

In maddened rage bleed not your youths with steel ; 

Draped be the chair of state with mournful black. 

Droop flag of Truth, and shield the slumbering dead. 

FOUR CHICAGO ZOUAVES HOLD THEIR LAST REUNION. 

The Chicago Zouaves never will muster again. Four strong, they 
held their last reunion in the lobby of the Grand Pacific hotel. In 
1861 the Ellsworth Zouaves went to the front as the best drilled 
company in the west. With them went the Lincoln Wide Awakes. 

There was one member of the latter company present. He 
drew his chair up to the group of white-haired men and the busi- 
ness of the reunion was commenced forthwith. Civil war stories 
were told, the death of E. E. Ellsworth, who was shot while 
climbing the roof of a house at Alexandria, \'a., to pull down the 
confederate flag and similar anecdotes were recalled. 

Those present were, Truman D. Cleveland, Maj. Frank E. 
Yates, board of trade; E. Hamilton Hunt, Dr. Charles E. Speer. 
The Wide Awake was J. B. Ferrus. 



Abraham Lincoln 75 



AN INFORMAI, RECEPTION TO COL. LAFLIN. 

An informal reception was tendered last evening at the Palmer 
to Col. H. Dwight Laflin, of Saugerties, N. Y., the only surviving 
commissioned officer of the United States Zouave Cadets, by the 
surviving members of that organization residing in Chicago. This 
was the company organized by Col. Ellsworth in the spring of 
1857 and which was disbanded at the outbreak of the War, most 
of the members becoming officers in the Ellsworth Zouaves. 
There are forty-two survivors of the original company living, of 
whom twenty-two reside in Chicago and vicinity. The entertain- 
ment was commenced by serenading Col. Laflin with Nevin's 
band, after which all repaired to Parlor N and serenaded Gen. 
Sheridan, who came out in the hallway and acknowledged the 
compliment by shaking hands all round and chatting with them 
for some minutes. An adjournment was then had to the club- 
room, where supper was served. Col. Laflin acknowledged the 
courtesy extended to him by a few well-chosen remarks. He 
gave a brief sketch of the early history of the company, with a 
mention of the celebrated forty-five day trip, and appropriate al- 
lusions to the lamented Ellsworth. 

The following members were present : Edwin L. Brand, H. 
Dwight Laflin, John R. Floyd, Freeman Conner, Clifton T. Whar- 
ton, George H. Fergus, Charles C. Phillips, William M. Olcott, 
Samuel S. Boone, Frank E. Yates, Bennet E. Botsford, James A. 
Clybourn, Harrison Kelley, Edward B. Knox, and W. M. Nevins. 

POEM WRITTEN AT COMMENCEMENT OF CIVIL WAR. — 
A. D. AUG. 19, 1862. 

How changed the scene, in this my native land. 

From what it was, when sailing from its strand ; 

To seek in distant climes for ancient lore, 

'Tis nought but turmoil, fire, and vengeful war. 

Some rend our flag, our Constitution scorn, 

And forge the chains for thousands yet unborn. 

Our sacred laws, they trample 'neath their feet, 

And slay our patriots, in the battle's heat; 

O direful day! O mournful sight to view, 

A field o'erstrewn with blood like crimson dew ; 

A mighty nation rending self in twain. 

Where strife seems useless, and where war seems vain. 

Hear, gracious God the prayer I breathe to Thee ! 

Stay Thou the conflict, dry the bloody sea. 

Let sounds of clashing arms, be heard no more, 

And peace, triumphant, reign from shore to shore. 



76 Abraham Lincoln 



Let one proud banner float upon the breeze 

From Southern gulf to glittering Northern seas. 

Great God make Thou our people truly one, 

And let them strive for Unity alone ; 

Hush the mad ocean, stay the thunder clouds, 

And save our people from these bloody shrouds ; 

Restore the Nation's mind to peace and rest, 

And calm the turmoil that now stirs its breast ; 

Our rescued ship guide safely in her path ; 

With Heaven serene, and ocean void of wrath. 

Record my prayer, O, heavenly host above ! 

And for revenge and hatred, teach us love. 

'Tis but a day since I a mournful ode. 

Sang o'er a youth, who once afar abode. 

In distant climes, where joy did fill his days, 

And hope beamed 'round him with her glittering rays. 

He too, is gone, the young, the gallant, brave, 

Gone to a heaven of rest, laid in a hero's grave, 

The cannon's roar no more will wake his rest, 

Nor patriot fires bestir his manly breast. 

Alone he sleepeth in his warrior's robes 

The passing wind a requiem o'er him blows. 

Still is the night, the bustling hosts are gone, 

And quiet reigns triumphant, here alone ; 

Fond Memory in her spotless robes beclad. 

Seats her before me, with a visage sad ; 

And whispers not her usual notes of love. 

But chants an ode o'er him now risen above ; 

She counts his virtues, marks his gifted mind, 

Shows how he honored God, and served mankind ; 

And tells how, like a free born soul he moved, 

As well abroad, as in the land he loved. 

But he is gone, who, with a master hand. 

Led bravely on his valiant Northern band, 

Led on to conquer, or in blood to die; 

Disdaining e'er to turn, disdained to fly ! 

Ah ! yes, he's gone, his spirit's upward flight 

Stopped not till entering heaven celestial light ; 

Stopped not till seated, 'mong that honored band, 

Who fought on Earth to save their native land. ^ 

Why this great change, these dark rebellious clouds, 

The gloom of war our country now enshrouds? 

Where is the peaceful land I left behind? 

I walk its streets, its joy I cannot find. 



* This refers to Major Frederik W. Matteson, son of former Governor Mat- 
teson, whom I met in Heidelberg. 



Abraham Lincoln 77 



The wonted gay and happy scenes of yore, 

Have changed to strife and fratricidal war! 

Hast thou, wide wand'rer reached thy home again, 

And dost thou view its ruffled state witli pain? 

Be not dismayed, the future bright doth gleam, 

From out this gloom fair freedom's star shall beam. 

In ten years' time, thus, can'st thou truly say. 

When looking back upon this stormy day : — 

Heard, gracious God, the prayer I breathed to thee ; 

Stayed is the conflict, dried the bloody sea; 

While sounds of clashing arms are heard no more, 

And peace, triumphant, reigns from shore to shore. 

While one proud banner floats upon the breeze. 

From Southern gulf to glittering Northern Seas. 

Great God ! Thou'st made our people truly one, 

And they strive now for Unity alone. 

Hushed the mad ocean, stayed the thunder clouds, 

And saved our people, from those bloody shrouds ; 

Restored the nation's mind to peace, and rest, 

And calmed the turmoil that once stirred its breast 

Our rescued ship floats safely in her path. 

With heaven's serene, and ocean, void of wrath. 

Answered my prayer, O, heavenly host above. 

And for revenge, and hatred, we'er taught love. 

Exalted virtues, with the help of God, 

Far from those lands, where rules a regal rod. 

Laid deep foundations for a future state, 

Where Freedom rules, instead of monarch's great. 

The new-found world, became the favored land. 

And to its newfound shores, the pilgrim band 

Came fleeing persecution, o'er the main. 

To find a home, where they could rear their fane, 

And worship, unconstrained, as conscience taught. 

The God Omnipotent, whose praise they sought ! 

The Mayflower brought them to this western worM. 

Where they, the banner of their Lord, unfurled. 

Time fled, and varied peoples filled the land, 

Who formed small colonies, these by the hand 

Of the Creator, o'er the sea were brought. 

And from them, God, a mighty nation wrought. 

That shook from ofif its limbs all tyrants' chains, 

And reared a government, where Freedom reigns. 

And when the Nation issued from the strife 

Victorious, and free, with hopeful life, 

It grasped all means to hold the treasure bought 

With precious blood, and noble men, and sought 



78 Abraham Lincoln 



Brave George, to give him Presidential power, 

Then Washington made haughty monarchs cower. 

Think not, that God will this fair Land forsake. 

Now in its prime ; His arm will soon overtake 

Its enemies, and baffle all their aims, 

Raise the poor slave, and shatter all his chains. 

The glory of our country's father, cast 

A halo o'er the infant child, to last 

For ages, if the child withholds to mar 

It's brightness, beaming forth from Freedom's star. 



Abraham Lincoln 79 



CHAPTER VII. 



IvINCOLN S INTUITION. 



"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial 
fire called conscience." — George Washington. 

Abraham Lincoln knew intuitively the right or v^rong of great 
social problems and acted according to the dictates of his con- 
science. He drew inspiration from within and decided what to 
do in emergencies not so much from acquired wisdom as by in- 
tuition. Where other men resorted to classic lore and worldly 
scholastic learning, gained from the college or university, Lin- 
coln communed with himself and ultimately discovered a rule 
of action and a light to guide him through the perilous laby- 
rinth of human affairs when besieged by conflicting opinions 
and surrounded by enemies on every side. His quick application 
of some story to illustrate his position, served to prove this habit 
of resorting to intuitive promptings to do certain things or re- 
fuse to act on the advice of others when such advice did not 
coincide with his own judgment. 

In his debates and speeches, it was not so much the letter of 
the Federal Constitution and legislative acts or glittering gener- 
alities which directed him as the spirit of justice that sprang spon- 
taneously from within. 

Douglas said "He did not care whether slavery was voted up 
or voted down. This Lincoln could not understand, for if 
slavery was wrong, according to his intuitive promptings, it should 
emphatically be voted down. This to him was the only course to 
pursue. It was axiomatic. 

His intuition to do what was right and his determination to 
carry out his conclusions was marvelous and showed the inborn 
superiority of his magnanimous and exalted character. He was 
willing to risk his own life to achieve what he had made up his 
mind was the right course to pursue. It was this that won the 
hearts of the people everywhere and prompted him to do many 
merciful and benevolent acts against widespread opposition, and 
when he was possessed of almost autocratic power. It was this 
that enabled him finally to bring about the liberation of the slaves 
and to sign the great charter of emancipation. 



80 Abraham Lincoln 



By comparing the sayings of Abraham Lincoln with those 
wordly wise sayings of great diplomats like Talleyrand or Vol- 
taire, or a great judge like Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, it 
will be easily understood how he differed from them for the 
better on a question of right or wrong. 

Talleyrand said, "Speech was given for man to disguise his 
thoughts." 

"Society is divided into two classes : The shearers and the 
shorn. We should always be with the former against the latter," 

Voltaire said, "They only employ words to disguise their 
thoughts. Clever tyrants are never punished." 

Chief Justice Taney said, in the Dred Scott decision, "The 
Constitution recognizes no difference between such property 
(meaning slaves), and any other property." 

This is not the spirit of the United States Constitution nor did 
it agree with Abraham Lincoln's opinion, or the course he pur- 
sued when chief executive of the Nation. 

Lincoln said, "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure free- 
dom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we 
preserve." 

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let 
us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." 

"I take the official oath today with no mental reservation and 
with no purpose to construe the constitution by any hypercritical 
rule." 

"I intend no modification of my oft expressed wish that all 
men everywhere should be free." 

"With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness 
in the right, as God gives us to see the right." 

Lincoln was working quietly and rapidly without unnecessary 
publicity to meet the threatened attacks of the Confederacy, but 
he acted at all times with due regard to legal technicalities and 
did not take the initiative at any time in commencing hostilities. 
This was the wisest course to pursue. 

In the management of the affairs of the army and navy, and 
meeting the requirements of every day in the struggle to main- 
tain the government intact the President assumed and freely 
used from time to time, all powers required by any emergency 
as being conferred upon him by the emergency. If these powers 
were also conferred upon him by the Constitution and the laws, 
as previously interpreted so much the better for those instruments, 
and for their previous interpretation. If not, it would answer 
equally as well if Congress afterward should pass laws covering 
the matters involved, and if the Constitution should be duly 
amended at the defective spot, as discovered. Such is the funda- 



Abraham Lincoln 81 



mental law of all human societies in all revolutionary states and 
conditions. 

"Lincoln absorbed in and united with his own action as Dic- 
tator and President, the previous action of the legislative branches 
of government. Members of Congress were unable to say to 
each other, the Commander-in-chief has issued a general order 
embodying and enforcing our legislation. The general order con- 
tained and embraced such amplifications as rendered a dictatorial 
proclamation forever independent of legislative act." (Stoddard 
History.) 

To obtain a clear impression of Abraham Lincoln's character, 
it is necessary to read and study his letters and speeches. These 
can be found in a book entitled "Speeches and Letters of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, 1832-1865", published by J. VV. Dent and Company, 
London, and E. P. Dutton & Company, New York. This book 
was given as a souvenir to those who attended the Centennial An- 
niversary of Lincoln's birthday at Springfield in 1909, which I 
attended. Speeches on Lincoln were delivered there by the 
Rieht Honorable James Bryce, Ambassador Extraordinary and 
Minister Plenipotentiary from Great Britain; Hon. J. J. Jusse- 
rand. Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 
from the French Republic; Hon. Jonathan B. Dolliver, United 
States senator from Iowa, and William Jennings Bryan. 

Nicolay and Hay, in their "Abraham Lincoln, a History," not 
only give extracts from many of Lincoln's speeches and papers, 
but conscientiously and graphically relate the thrilling incidents 
of those doubtful and anxious days during the Civil War when a 
great crisis was forced upon a nation entirely unprepared for the 
sudden assault made by a powerful and treasonable organized 
force within its territory which threatened its destruction. They 
both went with him from Springfield and were with him from 
first to last as private secretaries, and they personally were 
acquainted with many of those who were prominent in that ter- 
rible conflict. All the archives of the government during Lin- 
coln's administration, as well as his private letters, were open 
to their inspection when compiling their graphic account of the 
Hfe of Lincoln and the Civil War. They both were young men of 
high social and intellectual standing, and few historians who 
would have undertaken to write the life of Lincoln possessed 
better facilities, or were better qualified than they to do justice 
to the subject. I am confident that neither of them was influ- 
enced by prejudice or partiality in their account of the tragic 
events that occurred. I often met both these gentlemen when 
living in Springfield, and knew Mr. Hay intimately before he 
became Secretary to Lincoln. The last time I met him was in 
Rome in 1894, at the Hotel Quirinal. I remember we had a 



32 Abraham Lincoln 



long talk about municipal government, on which subject I was 
t] en writing. 

Any one who will take time to read Lincoln's speeches, letters, 
and messages to Congress, and the Proclamation of Emancipa- 
tion, will find in them remarkable uniformity, cool deliberation, 
and a progressive movement of thought and purpose. There is 
no contradiction nor subterfuge, but a firm determination to carry 
out a well-defined purpose from the first time he gave utterance in 
Illinois to his views on slavery, the Constitution and the Union, 
until the final premature and tragic ending of his active and 
useful career. In order to give an insight into Lincoln's charac- 
ter, and to show his humane as well as farseeing and intelHgent 
methods, a number of his letters, proclamation, and speeches are 
given herewith. 

Lincoln's farewell address at Springfield, February it, 1861 . 

"My friends ; no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my 
feelings of sadness at this parting. To this place and the kind- 
ness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a 
quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old 
man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I 
now leave, not knowing when or whether, I may ever return, 
with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Wash- 
ington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever 
attended him T cannot succeed. With that assistance T cannot fail. 
Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you, and 
be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will be 
well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers 
you will commend me, I bid you an afifectionate farewell." 

This address, in view of subsequent events, is pathetic and 
touching. It even looks as if Mr. Lincoln had a presentiment of 
his tragic death. 



Lincoln's first message to congress, july 4, 1861. 

Congress assembled July 4th, 1861 and President Lincoln de- 
livered his first message. 

He said, "It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction 
of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the 
part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the 
fort could by no possibility commit aggression upon them. They 
knew — they were expressly notified — that the giving of bread to 
the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which 



Abraham Lincoln 83 



would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by re- 
sisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this 
government desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to 
assail them, but merely to maintain visible possession, and thus 
to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution, 
trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the 
ballot-box, for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced 
the fort for precisely the reverse object, — to drive out the 
visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to 
immediate dissolution. * * * 

That this was their object the Executive well understood ; and 
having said to them in the inaugural address, "You can have no 
contlict without being yourselves the aggressors", he took pains 
not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case 
so free from the power of ingenious sophistry that the world 
should not be able to misunderstand it. * * * 

"By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circum- 
stances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the assail- 
ants of the government began the conflict of arms, without 
a <^un in sight, or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the 
few in the fort sent to that harbour years before for their own 
protection, and still ready to give that protection in whatever was 
lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced upon 
the country the distinct issue, 'immediate dissolution or blood.' " 

"And this issue embraces more than the fate of the United 
States. It presents to the whole family of man the question 
whether a constitutional republic or democracy — a government 
of the people by the same people — can or cannot maintain its 
territorial integrity against its own domestice foes. It presents the 
question whether discontented individuals, too few in number to 
control administration, according to organic law, in any case, can 
always, upon the pretences made in this case, or any other pre- 
tences, or arbitrarily without any pretence, break up their govern- 
ment, and thus practically put an end to free government upon 
the earth. It forces us to ask: 'Is there, in all republics, this 
inherent and fatal weakness ?' 'Must a government, of necessity, 
be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to 
maintain its own existence?'" 

NEED OF PREPAREDNESS. 

This precedent enunciated and enforced by Abraham Lincoln, 
should now be regarded as a fundamental principle of our govern- 
ment for all time, and if necessary, adhered to in any future, 
similar emergency. The character of a government, whether 



84 Abraham Lincoln 



democratic or monarchical, should not interfere with its effective- 
ness and power. A republic should enforce authority and 
obedience equally as vigorously as a monarchy. 

Lincoln showed his wisdom and capacity to rule in the great 
crisis when the states revolted against the government, in stand- 
ing firm against all opposition from without and from within, 
and enforcing the supreme law of the land, which was embodied 
in the constitution. 

The need of some provision in the United States for an army 
in case of emergency was seriously manifested during the crisis 
of the civil war. If a large standing army could not be main- 
tained, this country should follow the example of Switzerland, 
and drill all able bodied men so that they could be called upon to 
defend the nation, if required. All students in public schools 
and colleges should be thoroughly trained in military tactics, and 
perhaps put into actual service for a time, so as to fit them for 
duties, if necessary. Had the United States followed this system 
previous to 1861, it would have been better prepared to meet the 
forces that were arrayed against the Union. 

A powerful navy should be maintained in the Atlantic and 
Pacific, and naval academies should be established under central 
government control on the western and eastern coasts of the 
United States. Submarines and aeroplanes, etc., should be 
built and ammunition bountifully supplied so as to be always 
prepared for contingencies. 

When first threatened by the southern rebels, Lincoln called 
for 75,000 men, though he had not, under the Constitution, the 
right to do so ; but congress, as soon as it met, immediately rati- 
fied this act. Later he was voted $500,000,000 for carrying on 
the war, and authorized to raise an army of 500,000 men. He 
was Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy as well as being 
President of the United States. O. N. Stoddard, one of his 
historians, and also one of his secretaries, said, ''He was, for the 
time being, an absolute dictator, and was not in any way under 
the control of any other power in the government. He was a 
sort of revolutionary dictator. He was ready and willing to use 
all power given to him by an unwritten commission, to see to it 
that the commonwealth suffered no harm from its enemies. He 
was president of the entire country — South as well as North. 
The power to set aside written law was inherent in the dictator- 
ship, but could come even to the dictator only from the hands 
of necessity and to the safety of the commonwealth." 

The great majority of its members were willing that the Presi- 
dent assume the power of dictator, while the republic was strug- 
gling for life. This he practically did, and congress was willing 



Abrahafn Lincoln 85 



to place in his hands all the dictatorial powers that it was possible 
to give him. 

But with all this power given to him, he was no tyrant in any 
respect, and he used it only for the preservation of the Union. 
Even the enemies of his country when captured, were treated 
humanely, unlike those imprisoned by the slaveholders of the 
South, who had been educated in a school of oppression and slav- 
ery. 

To meet and check the influence of such men as C. L. Val- 
landigham, who were aiding the South while living in the North, 
he even suspended the writ of habeas corpus. He sent the cul- 
prit, when convicted, out of Ohio into the southern states 
where the friends whose cause he was advocating lived. Had 
Vallandigham, who was in the House of Representatives in i860, 
lived in the South, advocated the cause of the Union and talked 
against the South, as he did against the North, he would have 
been shot, or imprisoned by the Confederate leader. 

Lincoln was opposed to a system of retaliation, and when the 
South threatened to shoot Union negro soldiers taken prisoners, 
there was no retaliatory action taken by the North. 

The draft was opposed in New York and Governor Seymour 
requested Mr. Lincoln to suspend the draft, which he refused to 
do. A riot occurred in New York, the Tribune Office was at- 
tacked and the colored orphan asylum was burned. Colonel 
O'Brien and others were murdered by the rioters. 

Lincoln, with his simple honesty and straight-forwardness, 
and Grant with his faithfulness to duty and his entire lack of 
creative imagination and with his happy development of sound 
common sense, represent the liberal element of the middle and 
working classes ; while Seymour, with his smooth and well-bred 
insidiousness, characterizes the aristocratical elements of the coun- 
try, furnished with the thinnest guise of liberalism. Seymour 
occupied the position of a bitter hater of the Republican party 
with regard to the war, but he always knew how to subject his 
hatred to a cool political judgment. 

In every stage of the great contest he put on the mask best 
suited to the momentary state of affairs. After having recom- 
mended in the first months of 1861 simple submission of the 
North to the South, the adoption of the Constitution of the Con- 
federacy and the elevation of slavery to a National institution, he 
attacked the Republican party at the end of the same year, and 
also in 1862, for conducting the War without sufficient energy 
and in too weak a manner. In 1863, when Lee invaded Pennsyl- 
vania, he tried to convince the North that it was entirely defeated 
and must accept the conditions which the victorious South would 
dictate. 



86 Abraham Lincoln 



Vallandigham made a speech at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, against 
"King" Lincoln, and urged the people to "hurl the tyrant from 
the throne." At the same time a New York paper was sup- 
pressed for one day for inciting disloyalty. 

Lincoln ordered the suspension of the habeas corpus. 

General Burnside's Order Number 38, announced April 13th, 
1863, was as follows: 

"AH persons found within our lines, who commit acts for 
the benefit of the enemies of our country, will be tried and if 
convicted, will suffer death." 

He also stated that : "The habit of declaring sympathy for the 
enemy, was not to be allowed in the Department of the Ohio. 
It must be distinctly understood that treason, expressed or im- 
plied, will not be tolerated in this department." 

Clement L. Vallandigham, formerly member of Congress from 
Ohio, i860 became liable to the provision of the order and was 
arrested on account of disloyal and so-called copperhead speeches. 
He was tried by a military commission and finally convicted of 
publicly expressing his sympathy for those in arms against the 
government of the United States, in violation of Order Number 
38. He was sentenced to close confinement in some fortress of 
the United States. On an application for a writ of habeas cor- 
pus, Judge Humphrey H. Leavitt refused to give it. 

When the President, as well as Burnside, was attacked by 
the newspapers of the North, the President wrote to Burnside in 
answer to a letter from him, tendering his resignation, if he had 
overstepped his authority, as follows : — 

"The President directs that without delay you send C. L. Val- 
landigham with secure guard to the headquarters of Gen. Rose- 
crans, to be put by him beyond our military lines, and in case 
of his return within our lines, he be arrested and kept in close 
custody for the term specified in his sentence." (McPherson's 
History of the Rebellion, page 162.) 

He went through the South and was treated civilly, but with 
great caution by the leaders of the rebellion and finally sailed 
from Bermuda on the 22nd of June, 1863 and arrived at Halifax 
on July 5th and then stopped at Windsor, Canada. At this time I 
was studying at Michigan University in Ann Arbor in the law 
department, and was told about the banishment of Vallandigham. 

One day a number of Union boys, including myself, took it 
into our heads to go over to Windsor and call upon Vallandigham. 
We met him at his hotel, and he was very glad to see us, taking 
lis for sympathizers. He told us his troubles and denounced the 
action of the President. We did what we could to cheer him up, 
and then bade him good-bye. 



Abraham Lincoln 87 



LINCOLN STANDS BY THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAW. 

Mr. Lincoln said (May 1861) : "For my part, I consider the 
first necessity that is upon us, is of providing that a popular 
government is not an absurdity. We must settle this question 
now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to 
break it up whenever they please. If we fail, it will go far to 
prove the incapacity of the people to govern themselves. There 
may be one consideration used in stay of such final judgment, but 
that is not for us to use in advance. That is, there exists in our 
case a vast and far-reaching disturbing element, which the history 
of no other free nation will probably ever present. That, how- 
ever, is not for us to say at present. Taking the government as 
we have found it, we will see if the majority can preserve it." 

Messrs. Nicolay and Hay state, in their history of Abraham 
Lincoln, published by the Century Company, that: "liad Lincoln 
been a careless, reckless man, it is difficult to imagine the dam- 
age he might have done, or the risk and excess he might have 
suffered the Government to run into under such conditions as 
existed at the commencement of the Civil War. In such a whirl 
Lincoln's steady common sense and caution were a rock of safety 
for the Nation." 

"Already at this period (the commencement of his adminis- 
tration), Lincoln began the display of that rare ability in adminis- 
tration, which enabled him to smooth mountains of obstacles and 
bridge rivers of difficulty in his control of men." 

Lincoln was devoted to the cause of freedom and a democratic 
form of government or representative republic, and he felt it 
his duty to the world to maintain the Constitution in its integrity 
and the Union in its entirety as an example of a model govern- 
ment for all nations to recognize and copy. 



Abraham Lincoln 89 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GENERAL GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN AND GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 

October ist, 1862, President Lincoln visited the army to see 
for himself if it was in good condition to pursue General Lee in- 
to Virginia. 

General McCIellan says in his general report : "His excellency 
the President honored the army of the Potomac with a visit and 
remained several days, during which he went through the differ- 
ent encampments reviewing the troops, and also went over the 
battle-field of South Mountain and Antietam. I had the oppor- 
tunity during the visit to describe to him the operation of the 
army since it left Washington and gave him my reason for not 
following the enemy after he crossed the Potomac." 

In McClellan's own story, he says : "The President more 
than once assured me that he was fully satisfied with my whole 
course from the beginning ; that the only fault that he could pos- 
sibly find was that I was too prone to be sure that everything 
was ready before action, but that my actions were all right when 
I started. I said to him that I thought a few experiments with 
those who acted before they were ready would probably convince 
him that in the end I consumed less time than they did." 

After the President's return to Washington, October 5th, 
General Halleck telegraphed to McCIellan under date October 
6th. "The President directs that you cross the Potomac and 
give battle to the enemy or drive him south," etc. (The battle 
of Antietam, by Jacob D. Cox, Major-General U. S. V., Vol. 

General McCIellan was much censured for his mactivity and 
for not moving more rapidly against the rebel army, but one 
thing he accomplished which was of great advantage to the Union 
and that was that he systematized and drilled the great army of 
the Potomac which Grant and others used in finally conquering 
the southern army. 

By placing General Grant in command of the military divi- 
sion of the Mississippi which was composed of the departments 
of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, superseding 
Rosecrans with General Thomas, the great victory at Chatta- 
nooga, November, 1863, under the immediate direction of Gen- 
eral Grant, assisted by Generals Sheridan, Hooker, Sherman, 



90 Abraham Lincoln 



Thomas, and others, was assured. When the president was so 
fortunate as to have General Grant and General Sherman to 
carry on the great campaign of the war, success seemed to favor 
the Union army, and there was not the delay, uncertainty, and 
lack of co-operation with the war department as had generally oc- 
curred when McClellan and some other generals were in com- 
mand. 



Letter to General Grant July 13, 1863 : — 

MY DEAR GENERAL : 

I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I 
write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost in- 
estimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a 
word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicks- 
burg, I thought you should do what you finally did, — march the 
troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports and 
then go below ; and I never had any faith except a general hope 
that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass Expedition and 
the like, could succeed. When you got below and took Fort 
Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down 
the river and join General Banks, and when you turned north- 
ward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now 
wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right 
and I was wrong. 

Yours truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

After Burnside took possession of Knoxville and repulsed 
Longstreet, and Chattanooga was captured and the Union flag 
floated from these places to the Cumberland Gap, the president 
sent the following dispatch to General Grant, "Understanding 
that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is now secure, 
I wish to tell you and all under your command of my more than 
thanks, my profoundest gratitude for the skill, courage, and per- 
severance with which you and they, through so great difficulties, 
have effected that important object. God bless you all." 

General Grant said in his reply, "From my first entrance into 
the volunteer service of my country to the present day, I have 
never had cause of complaint — Indeed since the promotion 
which placed me in command of all the armies, and in view of 
the great responsibilities and the importance of success, I have 
been astonished at the readiness with which everything asked for 
has been yielded without an explanation being asked." 



Abraham Lincoln 91 



At times the President became very much discouraged at the 
inaction or injudicious orders of his generals. As an instance of 
this, was his disappointment when General Meade permitted 
General Lee to cross the Potomac with his army in retreat after 
the Battle of Gettysburg. Nicolay and Hay say: 

"The 1 2th and 13th July, 1863, had been passed by the Presi- 
dent in intense anxiety, and when on the 14th he heard of Lee's 
escape he suffered one of the deepest and bitterest disappoint- 
ments of the War. 'We had them within our grasp,' he said. 
'We had only to stretch forth our hands and they were ours, and 
nothing I could say or do could make the army move.' He had 
been most unfavorably impressed by a phrase in Meade's gen- 
eral order after the victory, in which he spoke of 'driving the in- 
vader from our soil.' This is a dreadful reminiscence of McClel- 
lan : it is the same spirit that moved him to claim a great vic- 
tory because Pennsylvania and Maryland were safe, he said, 
"Will our generals never get that idea out of their heads? The 
whole country is our soil." He regretted that he had not himself 
gone to the army and personally issued the order for an attack. 

"Still," he said "I am very grateful to Meade for the great ser- 
vice he did at Gettysburg." 

In Lincoln's correspondence with the generals, General T. W. 
Sherman said "he shows his remarkable correctness of military 
views." General W. T. Smith said, "I have long held to the opin- 
ion that at the close of the war Mr. Lincoln was the superior of 
his generals, in comprehension of the effect of strategic move- 
ments and the proper method of following up victories to their 
legitimate conclusions." 

It will be interesting to read Lincoln's letter to George B. Mc- 
Clellan, February 3, 1862, and his proclamation revoking General 
Hunter's order setting the slaves free without authority, written 
May 18, 1862. 

When Lincoln finally issued the Emancipation Proclamation 
it was not done in a spirit of retaliation, but strictly as a war 
measure, to facilitate the termination of a bitter struggle to 
maintain liberty and union for the good of humanity. 

Although at times even General Grant was attacked by some 
of the most loyal newspapers and accused of incapacity while 
members of the cabinet wished to have him superseded by General 
Sherman or Rosecrans, Lincoln in spite of these attacks to de- 
stroy his confidence in the great western general, as stated by 
his historians, stood stoutly by him, saying he should have his 
chance, and answering the over-zealous people who accused him 
of intemperance by the famous mot,"H I knew what brand of 
whiskey he drinks, I would send a barrel of the same sort to 



92 Abraham Lincoln 



some other generals." This was during the campaign of the 
Bayous, April, 1863. 

UnHke many rulers holding the exalted position occupied by 
President Lincoln, who was not only president, but Commander- 
in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States with vast 
discretionary powers vested in him, he was always kind, con- 
siderate and magnanimous in his treatment and correspondence 
with his generals, but he was also firm and in a measure insistent 
upon what he considered the wisest course to pursue. When he 
had confidence in a commanding officer, he was careful not to 
interfere with his plans of operation, as the following letter to 
General Grant illustrates : — 



LETTER FROM LINCOLN TO GRANT, APRIL 30TH, 1864. 

"Not expecting to see you again before the spring campaign 
opens I wish to express in this way, my entire satisfaction with 
what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. 
The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. 
You are vigilant and self-reliant; and pleased with this. I wish 
not to intrude any constraint nor restraint upon you. While I 
am very anxious that any disaster or capture of our men in great 
numbers shall be avoided, I know these points are less likely 
to escape your detection than they would be mine. If there is 
anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail 
to let me know it. And now, with a brave army and a just cause, 
may God sustain you." 

There were few men occupying positions of authority at this 
critical period who could have been intrusted with the almost 
despotic and discretionary power vested in presidents, who would 
have exercised this power with as much forbearance and wisdom 
as did the patient and considerate man ordained to fill the re- 
sponsible position of the executive of this great nation in such 
a crisis. 

The following letter addressed to Secretary Stanton March 
1st, 1864, will illustrate the fine sense of justice and human sym- 
pathy which, amid all his trials and responsibilities, Mr. Lincoln 
never neglected to carry out himself, or see that those subject to 
his control also enforced. 

"my dear sir : — 

A poor widow, by the name of Baird, has a son in the army, 
that for some offense has been sent to serve a long time without 
pay, or at most, with very little pay. I do not like this punish- 
ment of withholding pay — it falls so very hard upon poor fam- 



Abraham Lincoln 93 

ilies. After he had been serving in this way for several months, 
at the tearful appeal of the poor mother, I made a direction that 
he be allowed to enlist a new term, on the same condition as 
others. She now comes and says she cannot get it acted upon. 
Please do it." 

a, lincoln. 

note to secretary stanton; washington, november ii, 1863. 

"dear sir: — 

I personally wish Jacob Freese of New Jersey, to be appoint- 
ed colonel of a colored regiment, and this regardless of whether 
he can or cannot tell the exact sh,ade of Julius Caesar's hair." 

A. L. 



LETTER TO THE MOTHER OF FIVE HERO SONS. 

A remarkable letter written by the President to a mother who 
lost five sons in Civil War. 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, November 21, 1864. 

To Mrs. Bixby, Boston Mass. 

Dear Madam : I have been shown in the files of the War 
Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachu- 
setts that you are the mother of five sons, who have died glori- 
ously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must 
be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from 
the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from 
tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks 
of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly 
Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave 
you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the 
solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice 
upon the altar of freedom. 

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 

A. LINCOLN. 



94 Abraham Lincoln 



A LINCOLN STORY. 

It appears that during Mr. Lincoln's term at the White House, 
Mr. Cross was painting his portrait, calling at the Executive 
Mansion several times a week for this purpose. Mr._ Cross had 
secured the friendship and notice of Mr. Lincoln, owing to hav- 
ing rescued the President a number of years before while crossing 
a river, the row-boat having capsized. 

On this particular morning, when Air. Cross was hurrying 
across the City of Washington to keep his appointment, he ran 
across an elderly lady who stopped the painter and asked him if 
he could direct her to the Executive Alansion. Mr. Cross said 
that he, himself, was going there, and would be glad to direct 
her, and asked "What takes you there. Mother?" She said "I 
want to see the President about my boy, who is going to be shot 
as a deserter tomorrow morning." Having reached the White 
House, Mr. Cross was greeted by the President, who met him 
at the door in a sort of a lounging robe, which had a big rent 
in it. ]\Ir. Cross told the President the mission of the old lady, 
and Lincoln, out of the goodness of his heart, asked her to re- 
peat her story. He said "Tell me. Mother, all about it." She 
replied "My boy is a good boy, there is nothing bad about him; 
I guess he had gotten homesick and wanted to see his mother 
again, and so he came up North ; he is a good boy, Mr. Presi- 
dent, and I don't want him shot." Mr. Lincoln said "Just a 
minute," and looking off into space he thought for some time, 
and then said "Mother, you may have your boy," and thereupon 
he dispatched a message ordering the release of the young man. 

The President put off his sitting for his portrait for Mr. Cross 
that morning, and said "Mr. Cross, take this dear old lady and 
put her up, — see that she is housed and fed, and when her son 
gets back to her I want to hear further of his case." 

A letter written by the president Sept. 28, 1862 and recently 
published. It was given toe the Press by Mr. John Maynard 
Harmon on Feb. 3, 1916. 
"Strictly private." 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, Sept. 28, 1862. 
Hon. Hanibal Hamlin, 

MY DEAR SIR : 

Your kind letter of the 25th is just received. It is known to 
some that while I hope something from the proclamation, my 
expectations are not so sanguine as are those of some friends. 



Abraham Lincoln 95 



The time for its effect Southward has not come; but North- 
ward — the effect should be instantaneous. It is six days old, 
and while commendation in newspapers and by distinguished 
individuals, is all that a vain man could wish, the stocks have 
declined, and troops come forward more slowly than ever. This, 
looked soberly in the face, is not very satisfactory. We have 
fewer troops in the field at the end of the six days than we had 
at the beginning — the attrition among the old, outnumbering 
the addition by the new. The North responds to the proclama- 
tion sufficiently IN BREATH; but breath alone kills no rebels. 
I wish I could write more cheerfully; nor do I thank you the 
less for the kindness of your letter. 

Yours very truly, 

A. UNCOI.N. 



Abraham Lincoln 97 



CHAPTER IX. 



SETTLEMENT OE TRENT EPISODE. 

"The Trent affair also shows the control Lincoln maintained 
over events that were suddenly flung upon him to be met; its 
early settlement showed the wisdom of the president and his 
cabinet. Through their deliberations and foresight, the cordial 
relations were maintained as far as possible which had hereto- 
fore existed between England and the United States." Henry 
C. Whitney, in his **Life on the Circuit with Lincoln," (Estes 
& Lauriat, Boston, gives a clear and truthful description of Lin- 
coln in his earlier efforts while on the circuit in Illinois. 

D. MacNeill Fairfax, Rear-Admiral U. S. N., executive officer 
of the San Jacinto, of which Captain John Wilkes was com- 
mander, made the following statement in "Battles and Leaders 
of the Civil War," Vol. II. 

"At Cienfugos, he, Captain Wilkes, learned that Messrs. Mason 
and Slidell, Confederate Commissioners to Europe, had reached 
that port, en route to England. We ascertained that their plan 
was to leave on the 7th of November in the English steamer 
Trent, for St. Thomas, on their way to England, and readily 
calculated when and where in the Bahama Channel we might 
intercept them. * * * After boarding the Trent, I asked 
Captain Moir, if I might see the passenger list, saying I had in- 
formation that Messrs. Mason and Slidell were on board." 

"The mention of Mr. Slidell's name caused that gentleman to 
come up and say, 'I am Mr. Slidell; do you want to see me?' 
Mr. Mason, whom I knew well, also came up at the same time. 
* * * I informed Captain Moir that I had been sent by my 
Commander to arrest Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell." A full ac- 
count of this affair is given in the second volume of "The An- 
nals of the War." Mr. John Mason and Mr. James M. Slidell, 
Confederate Commissioners to Great Britain and France, were 
taken on board the United States screw sloop of war San Ja- 
cinto, to Fort Monroe, and afterwards to New York and Boston. 
A preemptory demand was made by England for their release. 
The Commissioners were subsequently released without unneces- 
sary delay by the order of the president after conference with 
Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



98 Abraham Lincoln 



It was the i6th of November when news of the incident, 
afterwards known as the Trent affair, reached Washington. 

"The capture of the Confederate Commissioners on the high 
seas under a neutral flag, in flagrant violation of the law of 
nations, a violation, brutal in its method, and useless in its re- 
sults, most dangerous in its consequences, was hailed by public 
opinion as a splendid victory for the stars and stripes." 

"Two men in Washington comprehended from the first the 
danger to their country of the inconsiderate act of Wilkes. These 
were Seward and McCIellan, the former burdened with an im- 
mense responsibility, patriotically dissimulated his opinion with 
extraordinary finesse ; he permitted the excitement to spend it- 
self, and, thanks to the slowness of communication with England, 
gained time enough to extricate his government at the critical 
juncture, by enveloping the decision he had succeeded in ex- 
torting from 'the powers that be' in a specious web of plausi- 
bilities, calculated to sweeten the bitterness caused at home by 
England's exactions, and at the same time to satisfy her just 
demands." 

"He succeeded in sparing his country and the world the hor- 
rors of a war, the result of which could hardly be imagined." 
(Philippe, Count de Paris, Aid-de-Camp to Gen. McCIellan). 

The president disavowed the actions of Captain Wilkes as the 
arrests were made without authority, and gave up Mason and 
Slidell, in accordance with the principle on which the War of 
1812 was fought, to maintain, namely, the denial of the right 
to search neutral vessels. 

Mason and Slidell, who were taken from the Trent in a 
British vessel, by Capt. Wilkes, November 8, 1862, were sur- 
rendered on the demand of England, after considerable negotia- 
tions with England. By acknowledging the right of England in 
this case, it settled the contention maintained during the War 
of 1812 by the United States, which was the cause of that 
war. Thus England tacitly admitted, or took the position in 
this case, that foreign nations had no right to search the vessels 
of another power to obtain possession of their subjects. 



THE TREATY OF GHENT. 

The original instructions of President Madison were to insist 
on the abolition of the forcible impressment at sea as a sine qua 
non of peace. Later Secretary of State Monroe instructed the 
commissioners to omit any stipulation upon the subject of im- 
pressment if found indispensably necessary to terminate the war. 



Abraham Lincoln 99 



Henry Clay, one of the commissioners, said, "it was a dam- 
nably bad treaty, and I don't know whether I would stand it or 
not." But it was signed. 



I^INCOLN S DESIRE FOR RECONCILIATION, 

To show the spirit of reconciliation on the part of Lincoln, 
which also began to prevail among the officers controlling the 
army, it is in point to state the opinion which was expressed by 
the Confederate general, Joseph E. Johnson, at the time of his 
surrender : "United States troops that remained in the south- 
ern states on military duty, conducted themselves as if they 
thought that the object of the war had been the restoration of 
the Union. They treated the people of these states as they 
would have treated those of Ohio or New York, if stationed 
among them, as their fellow citizens." 

The mind of Lincoln must be studied separately, distinctly, 
and without bias, on account of his early inferior environments. 
As a matter of fact, the location and surroundings of one's 
birth have nothing to do with the genius or ability of a person. 
Trace the ancestry of the most prominent royal families, great 
statesmen, scholars, generals and scientists, and you will find 
humble and obscure beginnings. The mind is, as it were, an in- 
dependent entity, disassociated with material accompaniments. 
So, in studying Lincoln, one must analyze his thoughts, his 
prominent mental features and his predominating principles, 
and forget where he was born or how he was originally pro- 
vided with goods. His mind could grasp and did grasp with 
equal, if not superior clearness, strength, and rapidity, all the 
great principles underlying our system of government, as did 
the mind of Webster, or Washington, Jefiferson, Madison, Mon- 
roe, or statesmen of his day like W. H. Seward, Lyman Trum- 
bull, David Davis, or Stephen A. Douglas, all of whom had been 
favored with more educational advantages than Lincoln. His 
mind was irrepressible, and constantly alive to all great ques- 
tions of the day and hour. His mind broke through his ma- 
terial and at first obscure surroundings like the rays of the sun 
through the mists about the earth, or the flash of lightning 
through the clouds in the sky. 

After the victory at Gettysburg, he expressed a desire that 
in the customary celebrations of the Fourth of July, it should 
be acknowledged that, "He whose will, not ours, should every- 
where be done, be everywhere reverenced with profoundest grati- 
tude." 



100 Abraham Lincoln 



THANKSGIVING PROCI.AMATION. 

On the 15th of July, 1863, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation 
naming the sixth of August "as a day of Thanksgiving and prayer, 
to render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonder- 
ful things He has done in the nation's behalf: and invoke the 
influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has 
produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion; 
to change the hearts of the insurgents ; to guide the counsels 
of the government with wisdom adequate to so great a national 
emergency ; and to visit with tender care and consolation, 
throughout the length and breadth of our land all those who, 
through the vicissitudes of the marches, voyages, battles and 
sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate ; and 
finally to lead the whole nation, through paths of repentence 
and submission to the Divine Will, back to the perfect enjoy- 
ment of a Union and fraternal peace." 

On the 15th of November, 1862, Lincoln issued the following 
letter : "The importance for man and beast of the prescribed 
weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, 
a becoming deference to the best sentiments of a Christian 
people, and a due regard, for the Divine Will, demand that 
Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the meas- 
ure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the 
national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be 
imperiled, by the profanation of the day, or the name of the 
Most High." (Stoddard's, "Life of Lincoln.") 



ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT 
GETTYSBURG. NOVEMBER IQTH, 1863. 

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon 
this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 
to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that 
nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long 
endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We 
have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting- 
place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might 
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

"But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse- 
crate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above 
our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor 



Abraham Lincoln 101 



long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what 
they did here. It is for us, the Hving, rather, to be dedicated 
here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus 
far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to 
the great task remaining before us, that from these honoured 
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they 
gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly re- 
solve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this 
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that 
government of the people, by the people, and for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth." 

This speech is considered one of the masterpieces of English 
literature, and so will be handed down to future generations of 
Americans. 



LORD CURZON HONORS LINCOLN. 

Lord Curzon of Kedleston, chancellor of Oxford university, 
delivering the Rhodes lecture on "Parliamentary Eloquence," 
tonight said he would escape the task of deciding which was the 
masterpiece of modern British eloquence by awarding the prize 
to the American, Abraham Lincoln. 



PROCLAMATION. 

The following proclamation was issued by President Lincoln: 
"Reliable information being received that the insurgent force 
is retreating from East Tennessee, under circumstances render- 
ing it probable that the Union forces cannot be hereafter dis- 
lodged from that important position, and entertaining this to 
be of high national consequence, I recommend that all loyal 
people do, on receipt of this information, assemble at their places 
of worship, and render special homage and gratitude to Almighty 
God, for this great advancement of the national cause." 

The following was repeated by Lincoln at one of the crisis of 
the war : "God hath spoken once ; twice have I heard this ; that 
power belongeth unto God." Psalm 62-11. 



LINCOLN S FAITH IN GOD. 

"God hath spoken once ; twice have I heard him ; that power 
belongeth unto God." Psalm 62-11. 

In his inaugural address March 4th, 1861, Lincoln said : "In- 



102 Abraham Lincoln 



telligence, patriotism, Christianity and a firm reliance on Him, 
who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent 
to adjust in the best way all our present difficulties. If the 
Almighty ruler of nations, with His eternal truth and justice, 
be on our side, the North, or on yours, the South, that truth 
and justice will surely prevail by the judgment of the Great 
Tribunal of the American people." September, 1862, Lincoln 
wrote thus : "The will of God prevails in great tests ; each 
party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both 
may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against 
the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war, it is 
quite possible that God's purpose is something different from 
the purpose of either party ; and yet the human instrumentalities, 
working just as they do, are of the best adaptions to effect 
His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably 
true : that God wills this contest and wills that it will not end 
yet. By His mere great power on the minds of the now con- 
testants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union with- 
out a human contest, yet the contest began, and having begun, 
He could give the final victory to either side any day, yet the 
contest proceeds." 

W. O. Stoddard, one of Lincoln's historians, says : "This 
man who could not lie and did not know how to be a hypocrite, 
publicly and before the world declared his simple faith both 
then and afterwards ; so doing he continually called upon his 
countrymen to join him in acts of repentance, forgiveness, prayer, 
thanksgiving, hope, trust; reassuring them in God's name when 
their hearts sank and their own flesh failed." 

While at Richmond the president said that the terms of sur- 
render should be liberal. "Get them to plowing once," he said, 
in Admiral Porter's presence, "and gathering their little crops 
and eating popcorn at their fireside, and you can't get them to 
shoulder muskets again for half a century." 

"They will never shoulder their muskets again in anger, and if 
General Grant is wise, he will leave them their guns to shoot 
their own crows, and their horses to plow with. It will do them 
no harm." He advised to let them down easy. 



PROCI.AMATION FOR A NATIONAL FAST DAY^ AUGUST 1861. 

"Whereas, it is fit and becoming in all peoples, at all times, 
to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God ; 
to bow in humble submission to His chastisement; to confess and 
deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that 
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray 



Abraham Lincoln 103 



with all fervency and contrition for the pardon of their past of- 
fenses, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective 
action : 

"And whereas, when our beloved country, once, by the bless- 
ing of God, united prosperous and happy ; is now afflicted with 
faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the 
hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remem- 
brance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, 
to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for His mercy — to 
pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most 
fully deserved ; that our arms may be blessed and made effectual 
for the re-establishment of law, order and peace throughout the 
wide extent of our country; and that the inestimable boon of 
civil and religious liberty earned His guidance and blessing by 
the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in all 
its original excellence." 

Some gentlemen from the West called at the White House one 
day, excited and troubled about some commission or omission 
of the administration. The president heard them silently and 
then replied : 

"Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was 
in gold, and you had put it in the hands of Blondin, to carry 
across the Niagara river on a rope, would you shake the cable, 
or keep shouting at him, 'Blondin, stand up a little straighter 
— Blondin, stoop a little more — go a little faster — lean a little 
to the north — lean a little to the south?" 

"No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue, 
and keep your hands off until he was safely over. The govern- 
ment is carrying an enormous weight, untold treasures are in 
its hands ; they are doing the very best they can. Don't 
badger them. Keep silence and we will get you safely across." 
(Tarbell's Life of Lincoln.) 



LINCOLN BELIEVES IN PRAYER. 

Mr. W. O. Stoddard, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says: 
"On the morning of the funeral of Willie, he said of the 
prayers offered for him by the good people all over the land, 
'I am glad to hear that. I want them to pray for me. I need 
their prayers.' " 

After the terrible and sanguinary battles of Shiloh and Cor- 
inth, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation for that and all other 
victories, asking the people to render thanks to our Heavenly 
Father for these inestimable blessings, and to implore spiritual 



104 Abraham Lincoln 



consolation on behalf of all those who have been brought into 
affliction by the casualties and calamities of Civil War. 

Mr. Lincoln said, "I have never had a feeling, politically, 
that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Dec- 
laration of Independence."^ — "I have often inquired of myself, 
what great principle or idea it was that kept this confederacy 
so long together." It was not the mere matter of the separa- 
tion of the colonies from the mother land, but that sentiment 
in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone 
to the people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all 
future time. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that 
basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men 
in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon 
that principle, it will be truly awful, but if this country cannot 
be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say, I 
would rather be assassinated on this spot, than surrender it." 



THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY. 

Those who protested against the tyranny of Great Britain and 
advocated freedom in the early history of the constitution, turned 
about and immediately undertook to keep in bondage other men 
in open defiance of the principles of liberty which they advocated 
in the Declaration of Independence. 

Abraham Lincoln said that : "He who would be no slave, must 
consent to have no slaves. Those who deny freedom to others, 
deserve it not for themselves ; and, under a just God cannot long 
retain it." (From letter to a Boston Committee 1859). 

It took a long time for the punishment of the crime for keep- 
ing a certain race of men in bondage to react and overtake those 
who had inherited, or subsequently became possessed of slaves. 
But when it did come, it surely came with a vengeance, and not 
only affected them, but the entire nation which had tolerated 
slavery. 

The southern slave-holders would have built up a despotic 
empire in the western hemisphere with slavery as its corner stone. 
They would have reversed the world's progress, and retarded civ- 
ilization by returning to the barbarism of the Dark Ages. That, 
too, at a time when all civilized nations, with the exception of 
Brazil, had abandoned the system of slavery. It is to be re- 
membered that Russia liberated the serfs in the year 1861. 

Although Lincoln was given at the time almost autocratic 
power for the time-being, he did not abuse it, or use it wrong- 
fully. This could not be said of the leaders of the Rebellion 



Abraham Lincoln 105 



who immediately created autocratic power over the new South- 
ern Confederacy. 

It has been stated by those opposed to giving negroes the right 
to vote that : "you cannot build in a democracy a nation inside a 
nation of two antagonistic races. The future American must be 
either an Anglo-Saxon or a mulatto." 

The negro race was emancipated in 1862, and given the right 
of suffrage, and I am safe in saying that there have not been as 
many mulattoes born since this date as were born when they were 
under the power of slave masters. The law of natural selection, 
where men and women are free to choose, will regulate the mar- 
riage question without any law as to amalgamation. It is only 
force and interference that destroys this natural law. 



SOME DEFECTS IN WEST POINT TRAINING. 

Abraham Lincoln struggled alone, without any outside assist- 
ance, to fit himself for future usefulness, and to master the knowl- 
edge that would enable him to maintain the integrity of the Union 
and the Constitution of the United States, which Jefferson Davis 
and Robert E. Lee were to attempt to destroy, after they had 
been thoroughly educated at West Point, at the expense of the 
United States government. 

It is evident from the well-known character and patriotic dem- 
ocratic and loyal principles adhered to by Abraham Lincoln 
throughout his useful and eventful career, that he was not trained 
at West Point in his early manhood, like Jefferson Davis and 
Robert E. Lee, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, Simon 
Bolivar Buckner, Geo. B. McClellan, and Joseph Hunter. It is 
stated that the latter once told a friend of Salmon P. Chase, that 
"Abraham Lincoln was a man irresolute, but of honest inten- 
tions ; born a poor white in a slave state, and among aristocrats ; 
kind in spirit and not envious, but anxious for the approval of 
those especially whom he has been accustomed to look up to, hence 
solicitous of the support of the slave holders in the border states, 
and unwilling to offend them; without the large mind necessary 
to grasp great questions, uncertain of himself, and in many things 
ready to lean too much on others." Secretary of State Chase 
wrote in his diary of Gen. Hunter, that "he was a well read and 
extremely intelligent gentleman." In this connection it will be 
interesting to read Lincoln's proclamation revoking Hunter's 
order freeing slaves. May 16, 1862. 

In a letter to Hon. John Sherman on Sept. 20, 1862, Secretary 
Chase says : "Speaking of the West, I am reminded that within 
the last few days I heard an officer say that he heard your brother 



106 Abraham Lincoln 



the General, abuse you roundly at Corinth, as one of the abo- 

Htionists who had brought on this war, saying that he was 
ashamed to own you for a brother. Is it possible that the pro- 
slavery views of West Point can have affected him in this way? 
I hear from all sources that nearly all of the officers in Buell's 
army, and Buell himself, are pro-slavery to the last degree." 
Abraham Lincoln, with the knowledge he gained by personal 
effort, through studying the Declaration of Independence, the 
Constitution and the history of its formation, the Federalist, the 
History of the Revolution and his legal text books, was better 
qualified mentally and morally to loyally administer the affairs of 
our representative Repubhc in accordance with the Constitution, 
than either Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee, with their four 
years of military training at West Point, under the direct super- 
vision of the United States Government, wdiich seems to have 
instilled into the former, at least, a disbelief in the fundamental 
principles on which the Republic was founded. Each of the latter 
came out of West Point transformed into a full-fledged aristocrat 
and each maintained his aristocratic bearing to the end. It may 
truthfully be added that George B. McClellan and John C. Fre- 
mont were also affected in a similar manner, unlike General U. 
S. Grant, who maintained his democratic bearing to the end. 

MUCH COLLEGE TRAINING UNDEMOCRATIC. 

West Point is not the only institution of learning subject to 
criticism. Students now attending lectures in some of our great 
universities are taught to look upon the Declaration of Independ- 
ence as a compilation of glittering generalities not to be taken 
seriously or literally. 

Mr. Harold Bolce, who attended lectures in many universities, 
in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, says : 

"Professor Sumner of Yale has little respect for the great 
principles of 1776; conspicuous among these historical delusions 
of colonial times is the doctrine that proclaims that governments 
get their just powers from the consent of the governed. He 
claims that this is untrue, that it has been trodden under foot, and 
it will meet the same fate as the rest of the principles which, 
seen through the mist of the Revolutionary War, have seemed 
great to us." He says that the idea that all men are created 
equal is being gradually dropped for its inherent absurdity. He 
also says that the terms "democracy," "the people," "Wall 
Street," "Slave," like the Declaration of Independence, are catch 
words to advance the welfare of a fantastic government and 
society. 



Abraham Lincoln 107 



Barrett Wendell of Harvard University tells Harvard students, 
"The revolution was fought to uphold a delusion and maintain the 
policy that all men are created equal." 

Mr. Bolce says that many professors teach that the Declar- 
ation of Independence is a delusion and the hope of equality 
fantastic and a menace in a government of the people. But many 
of them see a great future for America. Professor Sumner 
thinks that slavery will be reintroduced when coal resources are 
exhausted. He claims that steam power did away with the need 
of slavery. He adds that we may at any time, find it expedient 
to drop the jingle about "a. government of the people, by the 
people, and for the people." 

When teachings like these are given in our institutions of 
higher education, it is plain to see that sooner or later those 
who are inoculated with such ideas gained in prominent univer- 
sities will clash with the common people unused to such disloyalty 
to the Declaration of Independence, and another revolution may 
be the result. 




V\ 



Abraham Lincoln 109 



CHAPTER X. 

THE WJSST POINT AND ANNAPOLIS ALUMNI. 
DEFECT IN WEST POINT STORY. 

"A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined, to 
which end a uniform and well digested plan is requisite."' 

— GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

One fact was fully demonstrated during the Civil War, viz : 
That an efficient army cannot be immediately formed out of 
private citizens without previous thorough military training, and 
led successfully against the enemy. It does not matter how 
patriotic and brave they may be. At this time the country was 
comparatively young, but over fifty years have been added to 
its experience. Now every state of a united nation should co- 
operate with the federal government and maintain an adequate 
army and navy for defensive purposes. 

It would be well if our congressmen and presidents when 
young had all been given advantages of this kind. Prominent 
officials in nearly all foreign nations, especially on the continent 
of Europe, have been given military instructions when young. 
If this had been the case here many of our present representa- 
tives would not display the ignorance they do on this subject. 

The presidents of Switzerland are all in accordance with the 
provisions of the constitution, trained soldiers, like other citzens. 
The rulers of all European governments are trained military 
men. 

We are not so isolated today that we can neglect our coast 
defenses. We are in the same position as the republic of Switzer- 
land, surrounded by strong military nations, with great fleets and 
armies, but on a much broader scale. England, Germany, Russia, 
France and Japan, have large standing armies and modern navies, 
which can singly or in conjunction with one or more nations 
attack our unprotected sea coasts, on the East and West, or on 
the North, with England's consent, or on the South by Mexico's 
willingness or assistance. 

We have no army or navy now of sufficient magnitude to 
protect the Panama Canal, or repel an attack, or defend our 



110 Abraham Lincoln 



possessions on this Continent and our outlying provinces. Swit- 
zerland has provided for an adequate army in its constitution, 
which in this respect should be followed by the United States. 

West Point and Annapolis have in a measure, prepared in the 
past, a limited number of efficient military and naval officers, who 
have nobly done their part in meeting those emergencies which 
have heretofore arisen. But if we had these present training 
schools duplicated, we would not have had any too many officers 
and soldiers to meet the demands in the past and a few may have 
reached Congress and even the president's chair to the best in- 
terests of the country. 

In the Spanish War only about one per cent of shots fired 
by our war ships hit the mark, due to lack of practice. Even 
the signal corps was so deficient that our fleet fired on one of 
our ships coming from European waters. All of which shows 
our need of trained officers. 

One trained officer at the Naval Academy, commands, drills 
and makes perfectly drilled men of four or more hundred mid- 
shipmen. As with a chain letter we can see what these four 
or more hundred men could do with untrained men and so each 
year if we graduated two thousand officers, it would be no work 
for them to properly train thousands of men in a few weeks. 

The President is Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, 
and if not qualified on account of his lack of experience and edu- 
cation in military affairs, to enable him to successfully direct 
the policy of the army and navy in time of war, should at least 
appoint an experienced General as Secretary of War and an able 
Admiral as Secretary of the Navy. 

President Lincoln, with all his natural ability and good judg- 
ment was not able to defeat the Confederate Army until he 
finally succeeded in finding in Gen. U. S. Grant, a competent 
acting Commander-in-Chief of the entire Union Army. Stanton, 
although not a military expert, was able eventually after several 
years of experience to act judiciously and properly as Secretary 
of War. 

Our President and Governors, state Legislatures and Con- 
gressmen, may study out and enact laws, draft constitutional 
amendments and make treaties, but all their work will be power- 
less without an efficient organized military force to compel com- 
pliance with these laws and treaties. 

A constitution of the United States would be like a morning 
mist, or a bunch of straw, and treaties like writings on the sand, 
"scraps of paper," were there no strong army and navy to enforce 
these laws and treaties if defied by a foreign or domestic foe. 

The respect that other nations have for our territory, our 
assumed Monroe doctrine, and our treaty obligations, will be 



Abraham Lincoln HI 



ignored in this age, by other nations, if interfering with their 
plans, were we unable to maintain our ground by force. 

The war of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War and the 
Spanish War were not settled by the statesmen in Congress, who 
did much to bring about the Civil War, but by the trained officers 
in the army and navy who were trained at West Point and Ann- 
apolis. 

It was U. S. Grant at Vicksburg, who had his training at 
West Point, in 1843, along with his fellow alumni Gen. W. T. 
Sherman (1840), Gen. A. J. Smith (1838), Gen. James B. Mc- 
Pherson (1851), assisted by Rear-Admiral David B. Porter, who 
became midshipman of the navy in 1829, and Admiral Farragut, 
who together with other Union officers and soldiers captured the 
city and fortifications and opened up the Mississippi river to the 
Union Army. 

It was Gen. George B. Meade, graduate of West Point in 
(1835), who led the Union forces at Gettysburg, with Gen. John 
F. Reynolds (1841), killed at the commencement of the battle, 
Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (1854), Rutherford B. Hayes, (an 
attorney, afterwards president). Gen. Daniel E. Sickles (an at- 
torney). Gen. John Sedgwick (1837), Gen. Henry W. Slocum 
(1852), Gen. George Sykes (1842), Gen. Oliver O. Howard 
(1854), Gen. Carl Schurz a noted German who came to Amer- 
ica in (1852) with many other Union officers and soldiers, who 
encountered the well trained forces of Gen. Robt. E. Lee (1829), 
at Gettysburg, when the great decisive battle was fought that 
decided the war, the Confederate army being defeated and forced 
back to the Potomac river. 

It w^as General George B. McClellan, a graduate of West 
Point (1846) who took part in the Mexican War and who later 
succeeded in organizing and training one of the finest armies in 
the United States, which was able eventually to conquer, under 
Grant, Sherman, and other Generals, the efficient army of Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee, and finally capture Richmond, the capitol 
of the Southern Confederacy, and terminating the war. 

Oliver H. Perry received his commission as midshipman in 
1796. His victory on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, is well 
known. He secured a vast territory for the United States. Mat- 
thew Calbraith Perry became midshipman in 1809. His expedi- 
tion to Japan is well known, (1853) and he opened that country 
to the commerce of the world. 

It was Admiral David G. Farragut who entered the navy at 
the age of nine years in 1810, under the protection of his name 
father, then Captain David Porter, who was appointed to the 
command of the Western Gulf Black Sea Squadron, and reduced 
the defenses guarding the approach of New Orleans, taking pes- 



112 Abraham Lincoln 



session of that city April 29, 1862. He also subsequently took 
possession of the port of Mobile, August 5th, 1864. 

It was Samuel Francis Du Pont, appointed a midshipman in 
the United States Navy, December 19th, 181 5, who was given 
command of the South Atlantic Squadron, and captured Forts 
Walker and Beauregard in 1862. 

John Adolph Dahlgren entered the navy and passed midship- 
man in 1832 and was made Rear- Admiral in 1863, and was 
placed in charge of the South Atlantic blockading squadron. He 
conducted naval operations at Charleston Harbor and aided Gen- 
eral W. T. Sherman in his South Carolina and Georgia expedi- 
tions. 

Admiral George Dewey who graduated at Annapolis in 1858, 
achieved distinction and accomplished much for the United States 
during the Civil War and the Spanish War. He was a Lieuten- 
ant on the "Mississippi" and was with the West Gulf Squadron 
in 1862. In 1863 he was at Donaldsonville on a gunboat and at 
Fort Fisher in 1864 and 1865 on the "Agawam." He served 
two years on the Kearsarge and the Colorado and two years at 
the Naval Academy. In 1884 he took charge of the Dolphin in 
1884 the Pensacola, in 1896 he was made commodore and in 
1898 took charge of the Atlantic Squadron. In 1898 he dis- 
troyed the Spanish Squadron in Manila Bay. He was promoted 
to Rear-Admiral and in 1899 made Admiral of the United States 
Navy. 

The United States Academy at West Point was established in 
1802. 

Many of the actors in the Mexican War, the War of 1812, 
and the great tragedy of the Civil War, learned their parts at 
West Point, in the navy, in the state legislatures and the United 
States congress. 

It was Robert E. Lee, a graduate of West Point in 1829, who 
with other fellow alumni, including U. S. Grant and Geo. B. 
McCIellan, S. B. Buckner, (1840) Confederate, Joseph Hooker, 
graduating Thomas J. Jackson, known as Stonewall Jackson 
(1846), Confederate, took part in the Mexican War, Jefferson 
Davis, Joseph E. Johnston (1829), Confederate, took part in the 
Mexican War. Palmerton, Sherman. Braxton Bragg (1837), 
Confederate, who took part in the Mexican War of 1845 ^^^ 
1848, and through this War succeeded in adding to the terri- 
torial possessions of the United States, Texas, in 1845, California 
and New Mexico in 1848. 

Two of the principal generals however, who took part in this 
war did not study at West Point, namely Gen. Winfield Scott, 
who was a student at William and Mary College in 1805; and 
General Zachary Taylor who did not receive a college education. 



Abraham Lincoln 113 



Nearly all the generals and other prominent officers in the 
rebel army were graduates of West Point. 

Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard (1836, Confederate), was Superin- 
tendent of the U. S. Military Academy of West Point when he 
resigned and joined the Confederate Army. General Lee was 
also at one time at the head of West Point. 

Admiral W. S. Schley (i860, midshipman), and Admiral W. 
T. Sampson (Annapolis, i860), took part in the Spanish War. 
Among others, who might be added to this list of accomplished 
military leaders are the following: General Nathaniel Lyon 
(1841), Albert Sidney Johnston (1836), Nelson A. Miles, who 
entered the army in 1861, George A. Custer (1861), Benjamin 
F. Butler (attorney), George C. Pickett (1846), James Long- 
street (1842), James Hooker (1857), George H. Thomas (1840), 

A. G. Burnside (1841), H. W. Halleck (1832), John Pope 
(1842), W. S. Rosecrans (1842), Philip H. Sheridan (1858), J. 

B. Hood (1853). General John C. Fremont was not a graduate 
of West Point but was a short time in navy, commander in Mis- 
souri, 1661, etc. 

Lord High Chancellor Haldane says the "Training System in 
the United States is far superior to that given in Great Britain ;" 
in an article printed in Sunday's Examiner of August 30th 1913. 
"To come over here and see the liberal manner in which Con- 
gress provides for the education of the Nation's military officers 
is enough to make the mouth of an English War Minister water." 
Such was his comment after he had today inspected the United 
States Military Academy buildings and grounds and witnessed 
the maneuvers of the cadet corps. He was welcomed by a salute 
of nineteen guns. "This visit to West Point," said Lord Hal- 
dane, brings me back to my old occupation. During the six and 
one-half years that I served as Secretary of State for War I 
made a study of the West Point Military Academy. I have no 
hesitation in telling you that the system here of training officers 
of all branches of the service together is far superior to our plan 
of specialization when the cadets enter the academies of Sand- 
hurst and Woolwich." 



WEST POINT FOR EACH STATE IS NOW PROJECTED. 

Washington, Jan. 14, 1916. — The establishment of a semi-mili- 
tary school in each state at which a certain number of young men 
will be given academic and military education at the expense of 
the state and federal government is the subject of a series of 
meetings of the House Military Affairs Committee, which began 
today. 



114 Abraham Lincoln 



The plan is outlined in a bill introduced by Representative Mc- 
Kellar of Tennessee. It is favored by Chairman Hay of the 
committee and it is understood the War Department will urge its 
passage. 

The purpose of the bill is to provide plenty of trained army 
officers. The three-year course at the schools is to be modeled 
on the course at West Point. The students will be chosen by the 
county and state school authorities, the only condition being that 
they agree to hold themselves subject to the call of the President 
to active military service for a period of seven years after gradu- 
ation. 

The government will contribute $80,000 a year to each school 
providing the state contributes $40,000. In addition the federal 
government will provide uniforms, field equipment and military 
instructions. 



WEST POINT BILL PASSED. — LAST BUT ONE OE APPROPRIATION 

MEASURES GIVEN O. K. BY HOUSE AFTER BRIEF 

POLITICAL DEBATE. 

Washington, D. C, June 29, 1916. — The last but one of the 
annual supply measures, the military academy appropriation bill, 
carrying $1,216,761, was passed today by the house. It was made 
the vehicle of a brief political debate. Only the general deficiency 
bill remains to be considered in the house. 



MARVELOUS CRAFT IS BEING DEVELOPED, SAYS HEAD OF NAVY CON- 
SULTING BOARD. 

New York, July 22. — "I have reason to believe that within the 
next six months a giant Zeppelin will fly across the sea from Ber- 
lin and land in New York City," Howard E. Coffin, chairman of 
the naval consulting board's committee on industrial preparedness 
and former president of the American Engineering society, said 
today. 

"Unquestionably it was the arrival of the submarine at Balti- 
more that scared congress into appropriating millions for army 
and navy development," he declared. "The quicker the Zeppelin 
arrives the better, for it will scare us into more preparedness." 



Abraham Lincoln 115 



PREDICTS GREAT AERIAI, ARMY. 

"The $20,000,000 congress has given for aerial development is 
a tremendous step forward. With this encouragement we engi- 
neers are starting to standardize and develop aerial development 
in the United States. Our manufacturers are ready to pour mil- 
lions into the industry. 

"Within three years the United States will have an aerial army 
Europe cannot begin to equal. Within two years great passen- 
ger carrying airships will follow air routes all over the country. 
American industries can be coordinated and standardized. Eu- 
rope's cannot. Europe's aerial development has been neither 
healthy nor normal. It has been too feverish. The fact that 
they are fighting among themselves prevents standardization. 

HINTS AT MARVELOUS CRAFT. 

"I could take you to a field within a few minutes' ride and 
show you a fighting aeroplane that outstrips anything the Euro- 
peans have dreamed of. It has a secret automatic control, by 
which it can be started in the waters of Lake Michigan, skim 
the surface for a given number of miles, automatically rise to a 
given height, go a prearranged and exact distance in one or 
several directions, and automatically alight at a given point in 
Texas or elsewhere. This type of aeroplane will be developed 
into the self-directing aerial torpedo. 

"We will have dirigibles of the Zeppelin type Germany never 
will have. A fleet of automatically controlled aeroplanes with 
machine guns mounted on them and timed to begin their charge 
after going hundreds of miles to find the enemy without the pres- 
ence of a single pilot is an imminent probability. 

"The aerial development may mean the difference between vic- 
tory and defeat for us. We are getting started." 



Abraham Lincoln 117 



CHAPTER XI 



PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 

PROCLAMATION OE* EMANCIPATION WHEN OTHER COUNTRIES ABOL- 
ISHED SLAVERY. MEXICAN WAR TO EXTEND SLAVERY IN SOUTH. 

The preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation was published 
September 22, 1862, three days after the withdrawal of General 
Lee into Virginia, and was communicated to the army officially 
on September 24th. The proclamation took efifect Jan. i, 1863. 
Although the President had practically decided upon the main 
features of the Proclamation, he nevertheless called several meet- 
ings of his cabinet, and submitted first the preliminary proclama- 
tion, September 22, 1862, and then the final draft of the Proc- 
lamation, December 30, 1862. He asked each member to write 
out his opinion and submit the same to him. This was done by 
Mr. Chase, Mr. Bates, Mr. Wells, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Seward. 
Messrs. Nicolay and Hay state, "In writing the Proclamation 
Mr. Lincoln, in substance, followed the suggestions made by 
the several members of the cabinet as to mere verbal improve- 
ments, but in regard to the two important changes which had 
been proposed he adhered rigidly to his own draft." 

British subjects were prohibited from owning slaves in Amer- 
ica or elsewhere. Russia and the United States were the last 
of the civilized nations, with the exception of Brazil, which sub- 
sequently followed suit, to abolish serfdom and slavery. 

In Lincoln's speech delivered May 19, 1856, he said: "On the 
second day of July 1776, a draft of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was reported to Congress by the committee, and in it 
the slave trade was characterized as an 'execrable commerce,' 
as a 'piratical warfare,' as a 'cruel war against human nature.' All 
agreed on this except South Carolina and Georgia, and in order 
to preserve harmony, and from the necessity of the case, these 
expressions were omitted." 

The people of the slave states had the same privilege as those 
of the free states to move into and settle in Kansas. The former 
could have done their own work, like the latter who did not 
depend upon slave labor, or could have hired other men to work 
for them. At that date slavery had been eliminated from nearly 



118 Abraham Lincoln 



all of the civilized nations and was considered a relic of bar- 
barism. There was no customary, moral, constitutional, or nat- 
ural right for any set of men to insist on introducing slavery into 
a new state or territory because slave owners wished to move 
into it, any more than that they should claim a right to take their 
slaves into British possessions or into Mexico, if they wished 
to live there. 

Lincoln was not descended from a race of tyrants, nor were 
his parents slave owners. His mother had not been raised in an 
environment of luxury and taught to look down upon a less for- 
tunate neighbor ; nor was his father's name linked with disloyal 
plots, or schemes to pervert justice and the good of his country- 
men, as were many of the fathers of the leaders of the rebellion. 
He was an industrious man and did not rely upon slave labor 
to support him and his family. 

The War of the rebellion was in one sense, and for the same 
purpose, a continuation of the war with Mexico, namely : the 
acquisition of territory for the slaveholding states. Many of the 
leading men of the South advocated and engaged in the latter 
war, including Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, General Zach- 
ary Taylor, and other southerners who subsequently fought in the 
rebel ranks. Not satisfied with gaining area in Texas for slavery, 
the slave states were determined to extend their cherished insti- 
tution into the territories west of the Mississippi River. The op- 
ponents of slavery extension had insisted in Congress upon 
attaching the Wilmot proviso, to a bill to appropriate three mil- 
lion dollars in order to settle the treaty with Mexico. This 
proviso in the language quoted from the ordinance of 1787 pro- 
hibited slavery. It was voted down, however, by a vote of 102 
to 97. 

William H. Seward said in regard to the Mexican War : "I 
sincerely hope that the experience of the President may instruct 
his successors for many years to come that war for slavery is 
behind the spirit of the age." It was well understood in Wash- 
ington that this was the object of the Mexican War, which war 
Abraham Lincoln, when in the House of Representatives, con- 
tinually opposed. 

Although Seward did not make Abraham Lincoln President, he 
used all his talent and strength in maintaining him in his endeavor 
to overcome the power of the South in its endeavor, not only to 
make permanent in the Southern States the institution of slavery, 
but to destroy the government itself. 



Abraham Lincoln 119 



JEFFERSON DAVIS, AMBITION. 

The great ambition of Jefiferson Davis who became president 
of the Southern Confederacy, was to form an oHgarchical gov- 
ernment in which the people were not to be directly represented, 
but with its powers vested in the slave aristocracy of the South. 
This empire would include the immense state of Texas and 
large tracts of territory gained through the Mexican War, exist- 
ing southern states, containing land purchased by the United 
States from Napoleon, and as much more territory as could be 
forced from the United States. 

All traces of democracy would have been eliminated from the 
constitution of the Southern Confederacy and the only really 
free and independent citizens qualified to participate in the 
government would have been the privileged slave-holding class 
and their followers. 

France would have maintained its hold on Mexico and estab- 
lished a little monarchy, perhaps divided up into several other 
kingdoms. The Monroe Doctrine completely superseded, the 
power and supremacy of the United States would have been 
seriously curtailed, and the cause of liberty weakened through- 
out the world. 

During the Pierce and Buchanan administrations, the Southern 
leaders had full sway in the affairs of government at Washington, 
and they were continually plotting for one object, which was for 
the aggrandizement and extension of the slave power of the South. 
Such were John B. Floyd, Secretary of War ; Howell Cobb, 
Secretary of the Treasury; Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the 
Interior ; and Jefferson Davis, representing Mississippi in the 
United States Senate. 



THE NORTHERN LEADERS STOOD FOR LIBERTY AND UNION. 

While these men and their co-conspirators were busy plotting 
the over-throw of the Republic, Wm. H. Seward, Salmon P. 
Chase, Edwin W. Stanton, Lyman Trumbull in Washington and 
Abraham Lincoln in Illinois were carefully watching them, and 
preparing to meet and resist their schemes. 

Salmon P. Chase and Wm. H. Seward, as well as Abraham 
Lincoln, were not afraid to show their strong opposition to the 
barbaric system of slavery, which had been out-grown and elimi- 
nated from nearly all other civilized nations. 

Seward and Chase both defended Van Zant, a poor farmer, 
who had loaned his wagon and team to some wretched negroes 
who were trying to escape from slavery and the boasted republic 



120 Abraham Lincoln 



to Canada where every man was protected in his liberty. All 
the negroes escaped but one, and his master sued "Van Zant for 
$1200, the value of the slave, and got a judgment. The suit was 
confirmed in the Supreme Court of the United States, in spite 
of the able arguments of Chase and Seward. This judgment Van 
Zant was unable to pay and it practically ruined him. Mrs. 
Harriet B. Stowe portrayed John Van Zant under the name of 
John Van Trompe in her story of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." 

Stanton, Holt, and Dix in Buchanan's cabinet were loyal to 
the Union. Seward stood by the government and acted continu- 
ally in harmony with Lincoln even before he reached Washington. 
He made his famous speech in favor of the Union, January 12. 
1861. 

He said, "Union is no more the body than liberty is the soul 
of the nation. The American citizen has been accustomed to 
believe the republic immortal. He shrinks from the sight of con- 
vulsions, indicative of sudden death." He said also, "I there- 
fore follow the example of the noble senator from Tennessee, 
Mr. Andrew Johnson, and avow my adherence to the Union in 
its integrity, and with all its parts, with my friends, with my 
party, with my state, with my country, or without either, as 
they may determine : in every event, whether of peace, or war, 
with every consequence of honor, or dishonor, of life, or death." 

Grover Cleveland, in his "Life of Alexander H. Stephens," pp. 
721-723, states that when Stephens was chosen vice-president, he 
explained the grounds of secession; after referring to Thomas H. 
Jefferson who said that : "The prevailing ideas entertained by 
him and most of the leading statesmen of the time of the forma- 
tion of the old constitution were, that the enslavement of the 
African was in violation of the laws of nature ; that it was wrong 
in principle, socially, morally, and politically" — "our government" 
said Stephens (The Southern Confederacy) "is founded upon ex- 
actly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner stone 
rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the 
white man ; that slavery — subordination to the superior race, is 
his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is 
the first (and he might have added, the last) in the history of 
the world based upon this great physical, philosophical and 
moral truth." 



OTHER NATIONS ABOLISH SLAVERY. 

On the 20th day of August, 1833, England abolished slavery 
throughout the British colonies. (3rd and 4th William IV.) 
and $20,000,000 was granted by Parliament as an indemnity, to 



Abraham Lincoln 121 



the slave proprietors and other pecuniary sufferers by this act. 
790,280 slaves being freed. This was accomplished without 
bloodshed or rebellion on the part of slave owners. If the United 
States had remained a British colony, this act would also have 
freed the slaves within their borders. 

The Emperor of Austria issued a decree utterly abolishing 
slavery throughout his dominion. "Every man," said his Majesty, 
"by the right of nature sanctioned by reason, must be considered 
a free person. Every slave becomes free the moment he treads 
the Austrian soil, or even an Austrian ship." This should be 
written in the United States Constitution. On the i8th of Sep- 
tember, 1829 Guerrero, as president of Mexico, issued a decree 
abolishing slavery forever in the Republic of Mexico. The United 
States, however, which claimed to be a democratic government 
and boasted of its liberty to the world, inviting the citizens of 
foreign nations to her soil in order to obtain the blessings of. 
liberty, did not abolish slavery and the commerce in human bodies, 
until after a great civil war, culminating in 1865. The Proclama- 
tion of Emancipation, however, was issued previous to this, Jan- 
uary I, 1863. 

On October 9, 1807, the King of Prussia decreed, from Mar- 
timas, 1810, ceases all serfdom in our states. There shall be 
only free persons." 

The King of Prussia permitted the peasants and burghers to 
buy land of the nobles which they could not have done before. 

The government of Brazil abolished the slave trade March i, 
1830. 

November, 1803, Santo Domingo changed its name to Hayti, 
and declared its independence and abolished slavery. 

One of the first acts of the first Constitutional assembly of 
Guatemala was the abolition of slavery. All of the following 
countries agreed to the abolition of slave trade : Denmark, Aug. 
1804; Portugal, Jan. 31, 1823; France, Apr. 1815; Spain, Oct. 
31, 1820; The Netherlands, Aug. 14, 1814; Sweden, March 5, 
1813. Although the United States maintained slavery as one 
of the legal institutions of the country, it did agree, by the treaty 
of Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814, to the suppression of the slave trade. 

In 1861, Alexander II., emancipated nearly forty-seven million 
souls, amounting to four-fifths of the population of the Russian 
Empire. He assigned land to them which he arbitrarily took from 
the nobles to pay for annually or lease. The Czar paid the 
noble landlords for these lands and then sold them to the serfs 
on forty years' time. 

It was two years after this act of emancipation on the part of 
the Czar, that the President of the United States, Abraham 
Lincoln, issued the emancipation proclamation which liberated 



122 Abraham Lincoln 



the slaves in the Republic of the United States. This was is- 
sued September 22, 1862. 

Jefferson Davis, who asserted that he was simply exercising 
his rights to maintain the independence of the South under the 
Constitution and the right to maintain slavery, retaliated against 
this action of the President by ordering that all those who prac- 
tically put into effect the decree of the proclamation of eman- 
cipation should be regarded as criminals and treated as such. 

When we compare Jefferson Davis with the Czar of Russia, 
it is plain to see which of the two men was the most despotic 
ruler at this critical period in the world's history. 



HOW CZAR ALEXANDER LIBERATED THE SERFS. 

In the History of Russia written by Alfred Rambaud, we find 
the following reference to the Czar's ukase liberating the serfs. 

Czar Alexander II., in eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, called 
a chief committee, composed of twelve persons, over which he 
presided during its first sessions. He afterwards resigned the 
presidency to Prince Alexis Orlof. This committee, in con- 
junction with some of the provincial committees, more than once 
opposed passive resistance to the beneficent schemes of the sov- 
ereign. The Emperor went through the provinces, appealing to 
the conciliatory spirit and devotion of his nobility, reprimanding 
those who hung back, and reminding them that "reforms came 
better from above than below." To subdue the resistance of the 
superior committee, he created another to which the old one was 
subordinated, and which he packed with men devoted to the new 
idea. 

The new "imperial commission" did not content itself with 
elaborating the materials furnished by the provincial committees. 
Directly inspired by the Emperor, who sent them his papers on 
"the progress and issue of the peasant question," they took into 
their own hands all the points of legislation, by which course 
they ran the risk of throwing into opposition many proprietors 
who were well disposed, but who complained that they had never 
been consulted, and that the commission seemed desirous of de- 
priving them of the merit of their sacrifices. The commission 
gradually gave to the reform a more and more radical character. 
It admitted the principle that the emancipation should not take 
place gradually, but that the law should insure the immediate 
abolition of serfdom; that the most effectual measures should be 
taken to prevent the re-establishment of the seigniorial authority 
under other forms, by a liberal organization of the rural com- 
munes; and that the peasant should become a proprietor on the 



Abraham Lincoln 123 



payment of an indemnity. From these deliberations resulted the 
new law, announced by the manifesto of the nineteenth of Febru- 
ary, or 3rd of March, 1861, according to the New Style. 

The fundamental principles of the new legislation may be 
summed up thus : The peasants hitherto attached to the soil were 
to be invested with all the rights of free cultivators. The peas- 
ants, in consideration of certain quit-rents fixed by law, should 
obtain the full enjoyment of their enclosure or dvor, and also 
a certain quantity of arable land, sufficient to make certain the 
accomplishment of their obligations tov^^ards the state. It was 
provided that this "permanent enjoyment," or usufruct, might 
be exchanged for an "absolute ownership" of the enclosure and 
the lands, on the payment of purchase-money. The lords were 
to grant the peasants or the rural communes the land actually 
occupied by the latter; in each district, however, a maximum 
and a minimum were to be fixed. On the whole, there was an 
average of three desiatins and a half, or more than nine English 
acres, for each male peasant; but it varied from one desiatin to 
twelve ; that is to say, the peasants in general received less in the 
Black Land, and more in the less productive zones. The govern- 
ment was to organize a system of loans, which would permit the 
peasants immediately to liberate themselves from their lords, 
though they would remain debtors to the state. The dvorovuie, 
who were neither attached to the soil, nor members of the com- 
mune, were to receive only their personal liberty, after they had 
served their masters for two years. To bring the great work of 
partition into seigniorial and peasant lands to a happy conclusion, 
to regulate the amount of the dues, the conditions of re-purchase, 
and all the questions which might arise from the execution of 
the law, the temporary magistracy of the mirovuie posredniki, or 
mediators of peace, was instituted, who showed themselves for 
the most part honest, patient, impartial, equitable, and who de- 
served a great part of the honor of this pacific settlement. 

The peasants, freed from the authority of their former masters, 
were organized into communes ; or, rather, the commune, the 
mir, which is the primordial and antique element of Slavo-Russian 
society acquired a new force. It inherited the right of police and 
of surveillance, held by the lord over his subjects ; it administered 
and judged with more liberty the suits of the peasants. In ac- 
cordance with the ancient Slav law, the land bought from the 
lord remained the common property of all the members of the 
mir : each peasant held as his private property only his enclosure 
and the land thereto pertaining. Arable lands are subject, at 
more or less frequent intervals, to partition among the heads of 
families, and are possessed by them only by way of usufruct. 
The law, which does not permit a final partition of the common 



124 Abraham Lincoln 



land, except when two thirds of those interested consent, will long 
maintain against the destructive action of new manners and new 
wants this old European institution, which in Western countries 
has disappeared for centuries, in France especially, and has left 
no trace, other than in so-called communal properties. The com- 
munes, freed from the control of the lords, were grouped, as in 
the case of the imperial domains, into volosti, or districts having 
from three hundred to two thousand male members ; a volost 
tribunal received the appeal from the communal justices, and a 
volost municipality was charged to watch over the common in- 
terests of all the villages under its jurisdiction. The mayor of 
the commune was called starosta; the head of the volost was 
called starshina, and was made responsible for the peace and 
order of the community. The Russian peasants were thus given 
a complete system of local self-government, of an absolutely 
rural character, for the former lord was strenuously kept apart 
from it. Since his ancient domain had been divided into seign- 
iorial and peasant lands he ceased legally to be an inhabitant of 
the village. His interests being perfectly distinct from those of 
the peasants, he was forbidden to meddle either with them, their 
elections, their administration, or their justice. 

The great emancipation measure was, in fact, a dissolution of 
partnership between masters and peasants. It imposed sacrifices 
on both the interested parties. 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proc- 
lamation was issued by the President of the United States con- 
taining, among other things, the following, to wit: 

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves 
within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof 
shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be 
then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Gov- 
ernment of the United States, including the military and naval 
authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of 
such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, 
or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual 
freedom. 

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, 
by proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, 
in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion 
against the United States ; and the fact that any state, or the peo- 



Abraham Lincoln 125 

pie thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the 
Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at 
elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state 
shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervail- 
ing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state and 
the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United 
States. 

Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in- 
chief of the army and navy of the United States, in time of actu- 
al armed rebellion against the authority and government of the 
United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for sup- 
pressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 
and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed 
for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above 
mentioned, order and designate as the states and parts of states 
wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion 
against the United States, the following, to wit : 

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the parishes of St. Ber- 
nard, Plaquemines, Jefiferson, St. John. St. Charles, St. James, 
Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary. St. 
Martin and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mis- 
sissippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Car- 
olina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated 
as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, 
Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, 
including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which ex- 
cepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclama- 
tion were not issued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I 
do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said des- 
ignated states and parts of states are, and henceforward shall be, 
free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, 
including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recog- 
nize and maintain the freedom of said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to 
abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I 
recommend to them that in all cases, when allowed, they labor 
faithfully for reasonable wages. 

And I further declare and make known that such persons of 
suitable condition will be received into the army service of the 
United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other 
places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, 
warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke 



126 Abraham Lincoln 



the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of 
Almighty God. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
three, and of the independence of the United States of America 
the eighty-seventh. 

ABRAHAM UNCOLN, 



By the President; 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, 

Secretary of State. 

Mr. F. F. Browne, whom I knew intimately for many years in 
Chicago, says in his carefully compiled book "Everyday Life of 
Lincoln" : 

To a large concourse of people who, two days after the 
proclamation was issued, assembled before the White House, 
with music, the President said : "What I did, I did after a very 
full deliberation, and under a heavy and solemn sense of responsi- 
bility. I can only trust in God I have made no mistake." That 
he realized to the full the gravity of the step before taking it is 
shown again in an incident related by Hon. John Covode, who 
calling on the President a few days before the issue of the final 
proclamation, found him walking his room in considerable agi- 
tation. Reference being made to the forthcoming proclamation, 
Lincoln said with great earnestness : "I have studied that matter 
well ; my mind is made up — it 7iiust be done. I am driven to it. 
There is no other way out of our troubles. But although my 
duty is plain, it is in some respects painful, and I trust the people 
will understand that I act not in anger but in expectation of a 
greater good." 

Had Mr. Lincoln lived, the re-construction of the southern 
states would have been accomplished on a more equitable basis 
and much of the injustice and hardships needlessly inflicted on the 
exhausted people avoided. Among other things some provision 
would have been made for the freedmen besides giving them free- 
dom. The lands on which they had worked for others should in 
part have been distributed among them to cultivate on their own 
account as was done in Russia. They should have been given long 
time to pay for these lands and the government should have as- 
sisted them in getting started on the road to independence, if they 
were willing to support themselves on their own farms. 



Abraham Lincoln 127 



NEGRO FELLOWSHIP LEAGUE CELEBRATE WITH SONG. 

Chicago's celebration of the anniversary of the emancipa- 
tion proclamation at Orchestra Hall was made notable by the 
singing of a chorus of lOO voices organized by Mrs. Ida B. Wells- 
Barnett, president of the Negro Fellowship league, and instructed 
by James A. Mundy. The chorus sang compositions by Wagner 
and Handel as well as an anthem, "Ethiopia Shall Soon Stretch 
Out Her Hands Unto God," composed by Air. Mundy. 

The preliminary announcement made by the celebration com- 
mittee bears a quotation from Justice Harlan, "The constitution 
is color blind." The emancipation proclamation was read by 
Dr. Charles E. Bently. 



CONSPIRACY TO BURN CHICAGO. 

Benjamin Jefifrey Sweet who distinguished himself while Com- 
mandant at Camp Douglas, Chicago, during the years 1864 and 
1865, was a young lawyer who was commissioned as Major of 
the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers at the outbreak of the 
War of the Rebellion. 

Born in Clinton county, New York in 1832, young Sweet came 
with his family to Wisconsin at an early age, his father being a 
pioneer missionary to the Indians and settlers of Calumet county. 
Already a successful young attorney and state senator at Mad- 
ison in 1861, Mr. Sweet received his commission and entered 
the army as a major of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers. 
Later he returned to Wisconsin and raised two regiments, going 
to the front as Colonel of the 21st Infantry. 

At the famous battle of Perryville, Ky., Colonel Sweet re- 
ceived two dangerous wounds and in consequence went into the 
Veteran Reserve Corps and in due time was placed in command 
of Camp Douglas, near Chicago, being then Colonel of the 8th 
Regiment U. S. Reserve Corps. 

At Camp Douglas there was a great prison camp where thou- 
sands of Confederate prisoners were confined. In the fall of 1864 
there was a conspiracy formed by direct influences in Rich- 
mond, the Confederate Capital, to release the prisoners at Camp 
Douglas, arm them, sack and burn Chicago, and carry the war in- 
to the Northwest. Colonel Sweet through his constant vigil- 
ance and care, ferreted out this conspiracy and at the last mo- 
ment, just as the blow was about to be struck, arrested the lead- 
ers, seized the arms stored in Chicago and put an end to the en- 
terprise. Two confederate Colonels and a number of Northern 



128 Abraham Lincoln 



sympathizers, some of them being Chicagoans of note, were 
among those arrested. The services of Colonel Sweet were 
highly appreciated by the United States Government, and he re- 
ceived his commission as Brigadier General, soon after the crush- 
ing blow he dealt to the conspirators. It is certain that had the 
attempt to carry the war into the Northwest been successful, the 
struggle between the states would have been greatly prolonged. 

(Note: It was during the troubles in Chicago, incident to the 
conditions brought about by the Southern sympathizers, that 
Wilbur F. Story of the Chicago Times nearly lost his life. They 
were turbulent days in Chicago at this time and the city was 
patroled by soldiers from the Camp ; disorderly mobs were fre- 
quent and the mob which attacked the Times Building was only 
one of those which were successfully handled by General Sweet. 
I, myself, driving down town with my father, once saw him 
stopped by a mob in front of a bank in which funds were depos- 
ited for the substitutes. We were driven a little aside where I 
held the reins and saw my father go up on the balcony, on the 
2nd floor of the bank and by his personal efiforts, quell and dis- 
perse a very dangerous looking mob of excited men.) 

(Miss) A. C. Sweet. 

General Sweet resigned at the end of the war and entered the 
practice of law at Chicago. He was later appointed U. S. Pen- 
sion Agent at Chicago and Supervisor of Internal Revenue and 
then first Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue at 
Wash., D. C. He died just before his 42nd birthday, January 
ist, 1874, at Washington. 



Abraham Lincoln 129 



CHAPTER XII. 

THESIS ON GOVERNMENT USED AS CAMPAIGN DOCUMENT IN 1864. 
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION 1 864. CAMPAIGN 1 864. — FREE- 
MONT HEADS THE MALCONTENTS — LINCOLN'S HUMOR. 

When I returned from Heidelberg I went to the University of 
Michigan, where I graduated from the law department in 1864. 

All graduates are required to write a thesis ; and having spent 
some time previously at the University of Heidelberg, where I 
became interested in the various forms of government in Europe, 
I selected for mine *A Comparison between the Forms of Gov- 
ernment of the Republic or Representative Democracy of the 
United States and those of Other Nations.' 

I have always considered our form of government preferable 
to any other. It is the abuse of this great inheritance by those 
upon whose responsibility and votes the government is main- 
tained that excites criticism. 

The civil war was progressing toward its close in 1864 when 
I was at the University, and naturally the critical condition of 
the nation was on my mind. On my return to Springfield, my 
home at that time, I called upon the war governor, Richard 
Yates, and submitted my thesis to him. He read it over and sent 
me a letter expressing his strong approval, which I published 
with my thesis as a campaign document, when Abraham Lincoln 
ran the second time for the Presidency. It was circulated by the 
Union League. 

I gave copies to President Lincoln when I called on him in 
1865. 

THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OE 1864. 

Mr. Clark E. Carr, in his book entitled, "My Day and Genera- 
tion," states, that: "the Republican National Convention was 
called by the National Committee to meet at Baltimore on June 
7, 1864. The writer of this was one of the delegates from Illi- 
nois in that Convention. There was in Illinois scarcely the slight- 
est opposition to the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. Every republic- 
an there was enthusiastically for him, and we were by ringing 
resolutions unanimously instructed to support him. 



130 Abraham Lincoln 



"New Hampshire and Pennsylvania led off in declaring for 
Mr. Lincoln, on the same day so early as January 5th before the 
Baltimore Convention. 

"Joseph Medill of the Chicago Tribune was one of the ablest 
most earnest, and most persistent supporter of Mr. Lincoln. 

"Bitter and malignant as was the opposition to the re-nomina- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln elsewhere, its storm center continued to be in 
Missouri, culminating, as has been said, in two state republican 
conventions — the Conservatives favoring him, and the Radicals 
denouncing him. John G. Nicolay, who was the private secre- 
tary of the President, appeared in the Convention at the most 
critical time and on his own authority, he said, 'Advise the Illi- 
nois delegation to support the Radicals instead of the Conserva- 
tives.' We had once voted in favor of seating the Radicals. 
Other delegates followed and they were seated. 

"The result was that when the time came for the nomination 
in the great Convention, although a motion was made and stren- 
uously urged to that effect, it was impossible to re-nominate Mr. 
Lincoln by acclamation, and the roll had to be called. Mr. Lin- 
coln received every vote but that of Missouri. Mr. Lincoln re- 
ceived 484 votes. Missouri gave her 22 votes for General Grant, 
but before the vote was announced, Missouri changed her vote 
and, although not by acclamation, Mr. Lincoln was unanimously 
nominated." 

Mr. Carr says : "We saw that when we admitted this Radical 
delegation upon enuality with all other delegates and gave them 
a right to be heard, gave them their day in court, they were, like 
us. committed to the action of the Convention and its candidate, 
and as loyal Republicans, estopped from casting their fortunes 
with the third party already in the field." 

"Mr. Lincoln was great enough and wise enough to see all 
this. After giving a complimentary vote for Grant, the Radicals 
changed their vote for Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln at the election 
carried against General McClellan every electoral vote, except 
those of New Jersey. Delaware, and Kentucky, and his popular 
vote was nearly half a million greater than had ever before been 
received by a presidential candidate." 

This shows that the great majority of the people, or voters, 
heartily endorsed the policy of Abraham Lincoln. 

"more light and less noise," and other LINCOLN ANECDOTES." 

An editorial in the iVew York Tribune, opposing Lincoln's re- 
nomination, is said to have called out from him the following 
story : 



Abraham Lincoln 131 



"A traveler on the frontier found himself out of his reckon- 
ing one night in a most inhospitable region. A terrific thunder- 
storm came up to add to his trouble. He floundered along until 
his horse at length gave out. The lightning afforded him the on- 
ly clue to his way, but the peals of thunder were frightful. One 
bolt, which seemed to crash the earth beneath him, brought him 
to his knees. By no means a praying man, his petition was short 
and to the point : 'O Lord, if it is all the same to you, give us 
a little more light and a little less noise !' " 

When the time came along in the spring of 1864 for nomina- 
tions to be made for the Presidential office General J. C. Fre- 
mont was prominently mentioned by a few of the malcontents, 
and vociferousness gave color to claims of a support that subse- 
quent events proved he did not have. John T. Morse, Jr., in his 
Life of Abraham Lincoln, tells the following story: 

"At Cleveland on the appointed day the mass convention as- 
sembled, only the mass was wanting. It nominated Fremont for 
the Presidency and Gen. John Cochrane for the Vice-presidency ; 
and thus again the Constitution was ignored by these malcon- 
tents, for both these gentlemen were citizens of New York, and 
therefore the important delegation from that State could lawful- 
ly vote for only one of them. Really the best result which the 
convention achieved was that it called forth a bit of wit from 
the President. Some one remarked to him that, instead of the 
expected thousands, only about four hundred persons had as- 
sembled. He turned to the Bible which, say Nicolay and Hay, 
commonly lay on his desk, and read the verse: 'And every one 
that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every 
one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him ; and he 
became a captain over them ; and there were with him about four 
hundred men.' " 

"There is but one contingency that can cause your defeat for 
a second term," one of Lincoln's friends said to him in 1863, "and 
that is Grant's capture of Richmond and his nomination as an 
opposing candidate." 

"Well," replied Mr. Lincoln, shrewdly, "I feel very much about 
that as the man felt who said he didn't want to die particularly, 
but if he had got to die, that was precisely the disease he would 
like to die of." 



AUTHORITATIVE LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO HORACE GREELEY. 

July 18, 1864, President Lincoln published the following letter 
as he was informed by Horace Greeley that there were commis- 
sioners, Clement C. Clay being one of them, from the South, 



132 Abraham Lincoln 



waiting near Niagara Falls in Canada to open up negotiations of 
peace, if permitted to do so. Mr. John Hay had been sent to 
meet them and found they had no authority from the Cenfed- 
erate government to negotiate with United States authorities : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, 
July 1 8, 1864. 

To Whom It May Concern: 

"Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the 
integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, 
and which comes by and with an authority that can control the 
armies now at war against the United States, will be received 
and considered by the executive government of the United States 
and will be met on liberal terms on substantial and collateral 
points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct 
both ways." 

A. LINCOLN. 

This authorized proposal of peace sent to Horace Greeley who 
was simply a tool, was part of a plot laid to affect the re-elec- 
tion of Lincoln for a second term. But it failed of its purpose 
on account of the bold stand taken by the president showing his 
willingness to have peace on honorable terms. 

The president was very much annoyed, Senator Shelby M. 
Cullom said in his book entitled "Fifty Years of Public Service." 

"He remarked to me, that while Mr. Horace Greeley means all 
right, he makes me almost as much trouble as the whole South- 
ern Confederacy." 



Abraham Lincoln 133 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 1864 A SIGNIFICANT CAMPAIGN 

DOCUMENT NO "GERMAN-AMERICANS" IN THOSE DAYS — A 

SPEECH AND A POEM. 

The following campaign document was printed in English and 
German by me and circulated during the Lincoln campaign of 
1864. I gave copies to Mr. Lincoln when I called on him at 
Washington Feb., 1865. 
Fellow-countrymen and friends — 

Let us one and all rally around the old flag of our country, 
and take in our charge the sacred constitution, and the laws, and 
place them, with our majority of voices in the hands of those 
men best qualified to protect and preserve them. Let every 
citizen above the age of twenty-one cherish the vote granted to 
him by the constitution, and cast it for those alone who are 
worthy, honorable, and loyal candidates for state and federal of- 
fices. Consider the responsibility each and every one of you are 
under in maintaining and protecting this government under which 
we live. The vote of the poor man counts as much as that of the 
rich man, therefore let every vote be carefully weighed, and not 
placed in the scale of wrong. 

Our country, as you all know, is in a threatened condition and 
should we fail now in preserving the union of the states, and 
the laws which govern them, we will be plunged into an abyss of 
ruin, and the fall of our glorious temple of liberty will echo 
in mournful sounds throughout the whole world, and be lament- 
ed by many generations that will follow after us. 

The peace and security of the United States has been threat- 
ened by a great army of rebellious citizens, who rend our con- 
stitution, and scorn the sacred emblem of our liberty. Shall 
this rebellious crew be put down and annihilated? Or shall it 
be permitted to rule? If annihilated who shall be instrumental 
in doing it, the candidates proposed by the Copperhead party, or 
those brought forward by the LInion party? Do the Copperhead 
candidates seem to you to be fit men, with right principles to put 
down this rebellion? Or do the Union candidates appear as 
such? The great hobby of the former is peace and their cry is 
compromise and slavery. While the great principles of the other 
are liberty, emancipation and Union. 



134 Abraham Lincoln 



My dear countrymen, liberty is the greatest boon that can be 
bestowed upon man. Liberty of speech, Hberty of thought, and 
liberty of action. Take away these and you reduce a man to a 
creature but little higher than the brute. He is dumb until bid- 
den to speak by the ignoble tyrant who holds him in bondage. 
He is enchained, and unable to use the physical or mental pow- 
ers granted him by nature, until it shall please the will of the 
same master of his being. His mind becomes locked and remains 
as it was, a blank in existence, except when unbolted and com- 
manded to act by the lord who rules over it. Liberty is the birth- 
right of every man who breathes the atmosphere of earth, and 
he who attempts to rob his fellow man of this right, deserves the 
curse of heaven, and the bitter contempt of all humanity ! He 
deserves to be ground into dust beneath the heels of those he 
sought to rob of their freedom. Bonaparte, in a proclamation 
issued in Egypt said that, "all men were equal in the eye of God: 
wisdom, talents and virtue making the only difference." This is 
a noble sentiment, and one which if adhered to by Napoleon 
would have gained for him more favor than he ever received 
from his fellow men as Emperor. Yet, I say, fellow countrymen, 
that all men, whether equal in their capacities or not, should be 
free. No man has the right to dictate to the world who shall be 
free, and who shall be enslaved. No man has the right to say I 
shall be free, but my neighbor who has less capacity for the en- 
joyment of life and for the acquisition of wealth, or learning 
than I, shall be enslaved. And no man has the right to rob his 
fellow man of the greatest natural right that he has, which is 
nothing less than his liberty. Therefore, I say, that the aristoc- 
racies and monarchies of England, Germany, France and Rus- 
sia, and the whole catalogue of weak, though ambitious and ty- 
rannical kings, princes, and nobles of Christendom, should be 
compelled, together with the slave-holders in the United States, 
to yield to mankind their birthright. I further affirm, that an 
administration of a Republic, that holds itself out to the world to 
be governed by free and enlightened principles, has the right, and 
is under obligations to crush out slavery in any form within its 
territory, and that such administration has the right to use all 
its powers in breaking down tyranny in any and all quarters of 
the United States. 

I am not a man who would court the pomp and honors of a 
throne, or bear with weakness the insolence of the great. I am 
not a creature to be cowed into submission by the display of 
aristocratic fools, knaves or tyrants — therefore, I am for the 
overthrow of the whole system of oppression, no matter where 
it exists, but am the most anxious for the destruction of that 



Abraham Lincoln 135 



tyranny which I perceive immediately at home. Away with 
slavery in America! Away with slavery in the work! ! 

Now in regard to the troubles in the United States, and the 
manner in which the atTairs of our government have been con- 
ducted under the administration of Abraham Lincoln. It is cer- 
tain that one of two things must be done, either the Southern 
States must be permitted to establish a government independent 
of the United States, but upon its territory, and thereby create 
two separate and distinct countries where one before existed; 
the principles of the one being undivided freedom and national 
independence, while those of the other are slavery, and political 
aristocracy, or those states must be required, and compelled to 
remain permanent pillars in the temple of our national existence, 
abolish slavery, and submit as the other states, to just and equi- 
table laws and the principles of our constitution. This, gentle- 
men, is the final issue ; one or the other must be done. 

Let us grant the Southern States a separate and distinct na- 
tional existence, and what is the result? We see, as it were 
England and France, with their continual strifes, transplanted 
upon this side of the Atlantic, and placed one by the side of the 
other upon the territory of the United States with not eveti an 
English Channel between them to keep them from destroying one 
another. We see national prejudices growing into bloody wars. 
We see the clash of different principles and forms of govern- 
ment that are trying to live side by side. We see the glorious 
stars and stripes, that have spoken independence for so many 
years to the oppressed of the world, and the flag that floats over 
the slave and his master, attempting to wave in the same breeze 
and nearly over the same territory ; and finally, we see a sure im- 
possibility, attempting to force itself into a possibility. 

In his "Inaugural address" Mr. Lincoln said : "Physically 
speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective 
sections from each other, nor btiild an impassable wall between 
them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the 
presence and out of the reach of each other, but the different 
parts of our country cannot do this. We cannot but remain face 
to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue 
between them. Is it possible then to make that intercourse more 
advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? 
Can aliens make treaties better than friends can make laws? 
Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens, than 
laws can among friends?" 

Now instead of imitating Europe, and dividing our territory 
into separate and insignificant countries, governed by entirely dif- 
ferent laws and principles, as the secessionists wish, and which 
their copperhead friends, the opposing candidates would permit, 



136 Abraham Lincoln 



why not influence Europe to fashion her governments after our 
more enHghtened form, and unite those thousand and one quarter 
section kingdoms into one prominent and well regulated republic- 
an government, ruled by the common sense of an educated 
people, and by just, equitable and liberal laws? The separation 
of the United States into two governments would be but a pre- 
cedent for a state of things similar to that of Europe, and this, 
reason would show us to be a retrograde movement in civiliza- 
tion and enlightenment. 

Let us now instead of yielding to the unworthy motives of 
southern leaders, as the compromising, peace begging, and timid- 
hearted copperhead candidates would have us do if elected to 
office — which Heaven forbid — let us, I say, and hear me ye im- 
mortal spirits, who when on earth risked your all, and moistened 
the earth with your blood to establish this heaven-born govern- 
ment upon the soil of America ! Let us, I repeat, compel with 
main force, a recognition of the constitutional authorities of the 
United States, by each and every state of which that union is 
composed. 

Our object accomplished, which is the object of Lincoln's ad- 
ministration, the preservation of the union of all the states ; the 
establishment of universal liberty; and the exercise of the just 
and constitutional authority of our government, and we have the 
United States one, complete, and perfect nation. It will stand as 
an example of firmness, and a proof of the capacity of man for 
self government. It will excite the admiration and respect of the 
whole civilized world sending the conviction to the mind of every 
man, of the fact that a free and enlightened government like our 
own would be at this day, if not before, can stand permanent and 
secure upon its ov»m glorious foundation, which is the establish- 
ment of the principle, that all men must be free. 

The question before us, fellow countrymen, is, who shall man- 
age the affairs of government for the next four years ; those who 
advocate Union sentiments and freedom, or those who will force 
us to acknowledge the right of secession, state rights, and slavery? 

THE NOVEMBER ELECTION. 

UNCONDITIONAL UNION NOMINATIONS. 
FOR PRESIDENT, 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

OF ILLINOIS. 
FOR VICE-PRESIDENT, 

ANDREW JOHNSON, 

OF TENNESSEE. 



Abraham Lincoln 137 



For Governor, Richard J. Oglesby. 

For Lieutenant Governor, William Bross. 

For Secretary of State, Sharon Tyndale. 

For Auditor, O. H. Miner. 

For State Treasurer, James H. Beveridge. 

For Sup't. Pub. Instruction, Newton Bateman. 

For Congressman at large, Samuel W. Moulton. 

Presidential Electors. 

For the state at large 

John Dougherty, of Union. 
"Francis A. Hoffman, of Du Page. 
Benjamin M. Prentiss, of Adams. 

District Electors. 



John V. Farwell, 8. Jas. C. Conkling, 

Anson S. Miller, 9. William Walker, 

John V. Eustace, 10. Thos. W. Harris, 

James S. Pogue. 11. N. M. McCurdy, 

John J. Bennett, 12. A. W. Metcalf, 

William T. Hopkins, 13. Z. Clifford. 
Franklin Blade, 



FOR CONGRESS FROM THK EIGHTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. 

SHELBY M. CULLOM, 
of Sangamon County. 

These are the men who should receive the vote of every loyal 
and honest man in our state. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Abraham Lincoln, has been tried, and we all know that he has 
conducted himself nobly during the past four years, whilst the 
ship of state has been tossed amid the breakers of secession, re- 
bellion, and slavery, and our whole country seemed on the brink 
of ruin. If there are some instances when you have thought 
that he should have acted differently how do you know but that 
another placed in his trying position would have acted far less 
wisely? Or how do you know but that his course was right in 
the end, and you unable to see its propriety from your less ad- 
vantageous position of observation? Taking the entire course 
used by Abraham Lincoln during the term of his administration, 
we cannot but commend and honor him for his straightforward, 



138 Abraham Lincoln 



unrelenting and determined will to execute the laws of our gov- 
ernment, and to preserve and defend its holy privileges. 

We, of Illinois, should be proud that a citizen of our state, 
which has sent forth so many heroes to fight the battles for lib- 
erty, is now called upon for the renewed services of its distin- 
guished and noble hearted Lincoln. We should all give him a 
hearty support, and thereby be doing our country a lasting fa- 
vor, and be lending our strength for holding together the states of 
the Union and for preserving the equilibrium of the nation. 
Under Lincoln's administration a great army and navy has been 
reared out of the true and loyal materials in the United States, 
and now stand ready to defend our constitution and enforce the 
laws of the government. The national finances are in the best 
condition possible under the circumstances, and although millions 
have been spent for the support of men, and for the raising of 
materials for carrying on this war, yet so well is the machinery 
equipped that it will run without being clogged until the war is 
ended, or the resources of our nation are exhausted. Why 
change the President, and thereby alter the entire policy under 
which we have acted for the past four years? Why not keep 
everything compact and unchanged until this war is completely 
over and peace and liberty reign triumphant in the land? 

A rainbow appears above the horizon of our national ex- 
istence. Within its colors are innumerable homes looming up 
with cheerfulness and glory like to the stars that fill the deep con- 
cave of heaven in the silent night. The virtuous maiden and the 
gallant youth link their lives together and create a circle of do- 
mestic bliss. The sound of war has ceased, the terrific clouds 
that have so long filled the sky with gloom have disappeared and 
the clear radiance of peace beams forth from the political heav- 
ens. Commerce and agriculture flourish unmolested, enriching 
the country, while foreign nations find it to their interest to 
stretch forward a cordial hand toward us. The chains of slavery 
have dropped forever from the limbs of the inhabitants of "Free 
America" while free labor and industry fills the south and north 
with plenty and cheerfullness. The glorious emblem of our na- 
tional honor floats triumphantly over the whole of our country 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the lakes to the gulf. 
Liberty is written across its folds, and every star is there in all 
its brilliancy. The thoughtful continuance of Abraham Lincoln 
shines through the bow, and "President of the United States for 
1865-66-67-68" is stamped upon a golden medal that rests upon 
his patriotic breast. 

Springfield, 111., May 25th, 1864. 
The Illinois State Convention met at the Capitol for the pur- 



Abraham Lincoln 139 



pose of electing Senators for State offices and for the election 
of delegates to the Baltimore Convention. I was an attendant 
most of the time and resolved to work for the straight union 
ticket and do all in my power to keep Mr. Lincoln in the Presi- 
dential chair. 

1 went to the Governor's levee in the evening with my wife 
and niece. 



SPEEICH BEFORE THE ATHENS, ILL. UNION LEAGUE, JULY I7, 1863. 

The following is a transcript of a speech delivered by the 
writer before the Athens, 111. Union League, July 17, 1863, and 
published in the Athens Herald: 

Why should a parcel of scheming politicians anxious after 
the preference yielded by the people to those whom they think 
are great benefactors to their country, be permitted to come for- 
ward and mislead the people by false and treacherous reasonings 
and cause them, the people, to believe that they are the great pro- 
tectors of their rights, while they are really only a burden to them, 
weakening their (the people's) powers and crippling all the wor- 
thy efforts of the administration. It is a disgrace to Illinois to 
permit a legislative body convened in its capitol to throw calumny 
on the government at this time, when at the very best it can only 
be sustained and kept united by the free co-operation of the whole 
Northern people in their effort to subdue the present rebellion. 
I say, it will be a lasting disgrace and it will in a measure coun- 
teract the gallant bearing of the loyal citizens of the state upon 
the field of battle. 

They pretend to fear that their rights are being taken from 
them — these two-faced seekers after political preference. They 
no more fear this than they fear that the earth will stop in its 
course around the sun. There is not one democratic member of 
the legislature that does not know, as well as he knov^^s that his 
life is sustained by breathing, that in order to work with any de- 
gree of force at the North at this time, the people — the great pow- 
er for good or evil — must be kept united and ever mindful of the 
fact that at this time under the present circumstances their com- 
bined efforts will alone save the country. And they know that to 
let speech after speech, article after article be publishedin news- 
papers and showered upon the people, filled with opposition to the 
just efforts of the administration to subdue the rebellion, is but 
to permit the power of the people to be divided and w-asted in en- 
dangering the safety of the country. They know this, but still 
with evil hearts, and selfish plans they do not care what they are 



140 Abraham Lincoln 



doing to destroy the country, just so they can by, this means, ob- 
tain power and mastery over the people and gain possession of the 
different branches of the state government. They think, perhaps, 
that when once in power they can undo the mischief they have 
done and remedy the evil by their fancied benefits. 

The people should be warned of these prowlers after the 
storehouses of the land and see under the glittering, imposing 
and insinuating arguments, a base and treacherous purpose. 

Who are these men who spring forward and offer the people, 
with so much generosity, their assistance in obtaining for them 
their rights? Who are these lawyers who will defend the right- 
ful heir from incroachments of unlawful aggressors? Angels in 
the shape of men from the courts of paradise? or disloyal citi- 
zens from the marvel of the West — Chicago? Surely the people 
who are so unused to the possession of their liberties as the 
American people, should have some one — ^a Gowdy — a Fuller — or 
a Merrick — to tell them when their liberties are being taken from 
them, and offer their professional services in regaining their law- 
ful rights, and as a recompense, we, the American people, can 
give one the president's chair, another the secretary's bureau, 
and a third the gubernatorial chair of Illinois. This is all they 
ask, and they are so very patriotic and express such liberal senti- 
ments. 

This is all they are working after and the people should not 
allow themselves to be deceived by them. No one pretends to 
take away the liberties of the people. All the actions of the ad- 
ministration only tend to enlarge the bounds of freedom, and to 
secure its blessings perpetually on this continent. 

Men should not have the power to act treasonably, nor should 
they have the right to talk or advocate treason. But denying this 
right is not infringing upon the rights of the people any more 
than it would be to deny the right of free men to murder each 
other with impunity. 

I think that the people possess the liberty yet of riding these 
demagogues on rails and sending them back to their law offices 
and courtrooms in Chicago. I think they still have the liberty of 
enforcing respect to those lawfully elected to office, even if 
Mr, Gowdy and his minions do not like it, and they have the 
liberty and the right too of compelling the editor of the Times to 
show that respect if they think fit. The administration has far 
more right to arraign individuals living in the country over which 
it has jurisdiction and make them give an account of their actions 
and treasonable speeches, than these individuals have to arraign 
the administration and attempt to try and condemn legally ap- 
pointed officials forming this administration. It is evident to 



Abraham Lincoln 141 



my mind that it is nothing but party jealousy and love of power 
that induces these old time democrats to come forward at this 
time and speak and act as they do. They should be dealt with 
severely and be taught that even in a republic respect should be 
shown to the government and order and obedience enforced. 

When the people learn to keep these sharks in their places 
and say to these impudent men who attempt to elbow their way 
into every position of power, that we do not need their ser- 
vices, unless they are willing to sustain the government. These 
would-be politicians are often a great curse to the country. 
They are the ones who stir up turmoil among the people in or- 
der to advance their own interests. They are the great lions of 
destruction that roam about our beautiful constructed temple of 
liberty and trample its glory under their unholy feet. It was 
such democrats as Jefiferson Davis who originally precipitated the 
present civil war. They are the ones who grasp after the scepter 
of power, seeking to gain it through a mastery over the minds 
of the people. If the people would understand that there is some- 
thing needed besides talent, intellect, and brilliant mental endow- 
ments in order to constitute a safe statesman, namely, an honest 
and true heart, they might be able to select the right men to take 
charge of the sacred interests of our country. Such an one 
is Abraham Lincoln, now at the head of the government. 

Why is it that the ingenious lawyer should always step for- 
ward and seek to have preference in the management of all these 
national affairs? Why should his trickery be permitted to de- 
ceive the people for his selfish interests? Why should not the 
educated and worthy farmers be chosen, or the practical busi- 
ness man to take part in the control of the nation? Shall the 
wily fox of an attorney be allowed always to feed ofif of the 
wealth of the government. 

Now, what with all their elocution and arguments have these 
pretended defenders of the peoples rights accomplished, that 
reflects honor upon themselves or advantage to the country? 
They have so far accomplished nothing good, but have continu- 
ally hindered those who work and fight for a worthy object by 
finding fault with them continually. Instead of being a help 
they are a burden to the country, unwilling to pull the load but 
drawing back with all their might. These men having shown 
their true character to the people, these discerning and treach- 
erous democratic members of the legislature of IlHnois of 1863 
should be remembered and shunned in the future as dangerous. 



142 Abraham Lincoln 



JANUARY I, 1865. 
NEW year's address. 

Welcome, to thee ! Happy New Year ! 

Gilded o'er with hopes so bright; 
We hail thy dawn with merry cheer, 

And think in THEE to find delight. 

We bid the Old Year now adieu, 
Filled with war and bloody strife, 

And wish to find within the New, 
Peace, Prosperity, and Life. 

OUR COUNTRY. 

Thou, the best of earth's creations, 

Country of the brave and free; 
Fearless of all foreign nations, 

Strong at home, and bold at sea. 
Liberty, thy banner seeketh ; 
The oppressed thy shelter seeketh ; 

Peace and love should dwell in thee. 
Mark the veins of mighty rivers. 

Hastening through thy body e'er. 
On whose flow the sunbeam quivers, 

Gladdening them throughout the year. 
Mark thy ribs of lofty mountains 

Holding thee between their strength; 
Then perceive the welling fountains 

Gushing from them, that at length — 
Coursing through thy fruitful regions. 

Swelling rivers that adorn thee. 
Ruffled by the breezes pinions 

Reach the billows of the sea. 
Mark the princely cities rising 

On thy hills, and plains, and coast; 
Science, art, wealth, power comprising, 

Teaming with a busy host ; 
Filled with learning — arts creations — 

Grasping oceans with their hands; 
Trading with all foreign nations. 

Buying produce of thy lands. 
Mark thy laws, the work of sages, 

Gleaned from out the mighty past, 
Chosen from the lore of ages. 

Molded in a freeman's cast. 



Abraham Lincoln i^^o 

See how equity doth gHsten; 
To their Freedom only listen; 
See what beauties in them hover; 
Monarch's faults they do not cover; 
All men equally they measure, 
And no Lord's or Baron's treasure 
Keeps one from that fatal measure. 
Mark how grand thy Constitution, 

Living in immortal life; 
Nothing of a Court's pollution 

Mars its beauty. Is their strife?— 
Strife, blood, war, and horrid treason — 

Now for this is there good reason ? 
Some men, like the damned in Milton, 

Rule or ruin their design; 
Hurl these from our glorious nation, 

Else its strength to them resign. 
In the Constitution, dwelleth 
Mighty powers; and truth it telleth ; 
Fiercest passions now it quelleth. 
Yet no rights to treason selleth. 
Will you? guardians of this glory, 
Grant the marring of its name? 
Making history tell the story, 

How they sought to soil its fame? 
Nor be blind to England's envy; 

Or the scheming of the French: 
England with her mighty navy 

Hopes thy power from thee to wrench; 
And the French are creeping slyly. 
Handled by their Emperor wily. 
To the vile rebellious regions. 
There to swell the rebel legions. 
Mexico, he now has conquered, 

And has planted there a throne. 
Spurning Monroe's doctrine — honored 

Not enough by men at home, — 
But which shall remain unshaken. 
And no force from it be taken. 
Liberty breaks thrones in pieces, 

Rends the shackles of the slave; 
Think not he who holds them ceases 

To plot our fall this power to save. 
Ye sons of Liberty, awake! 
And with free principles all nations shake. 



144 Abraham Lincoln 



THE WAR. 



Thou, O muse ! who tuned for Homer, 

Dolefully the lyre of war, 
Make my harp, with stirring humor, 

Sound abroad that dirge once more. 



Four years since began the warring, 

Traitors scaling BYeedom's walls ; 
Still its Temples now they're storming, 

Fighting, till their last one falls. 
Honor ye, the heroes valiant 

Who have fought them 'neath the stars ; 
Gained for Union, conquests brilliant, 

Following boldly war-god Mars. 
Sherman's soldiers ! Greet them loudly ! 
They have fought, and bled most proudly ! 
And midst blood and battles' clamor, 
Gained Savannah through their valor; 
Remember, too, the many conquests 

Gained within the flitted year; 
The hero's corps of us requests 

These victories aloud to cheer. 
Ah, many battles, bloody, fearful. 
Many scenes, at home all tearful. 
Many towns, and cities wasted. 
Many draughts of anguish tasted. 
Many souls to judgment hasted — 
Follow, this dread war 'gainst traitors, 

'Gainst misguided Union haters : 
But we'll leave this doleful subject. 

Hoping ere this year is o'er. 
We'll have gained our worthy object, 

And of war to know no more. 



HILDENE 

MANCHESTER 

VERMONT 

August 3rd, 1916. 

David E. Gibson, Esq., 

Gibson, Sykes & Powler Studios, 

Chicago. 

Dear Sir: 

Replying to your letter of Aug- 
ust 1st, in v/hich you enclose a copy of a 
letter you are sending to Mr. Bartow A.Ul- 
rich regarding a photograph, of President 
Lincoln; I have no objection to your giv« 
ing Mr. Ulrich any photograph you have. 
Very truly yours, 





yj.jryj 



Abraham Lincoln 145 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LAST INTERVIEW WITH LINCOLN. 



Some time after my return from Heidelberg, Germany, I 
visited Washington, as I was seeking an appointment as consul 
at one of the German ports. This was in February, 1865, just 
two months before IVIr. Lincoln's assassination. I met Mr. 
John Hay, then private secretary, whom I knew in Springfield 
before his appointment, and was taken into the President's au- 
dience chamber by Congressman Longyear of Michigan. 

After I was formally introduced, Mr. Lincoln said he knew 
the members of my family in Springfield very well, and that he 
had often met them, and spoke especially of my eldest sister 
Mary, and gave several incidents that had occurred in the Spring- 
field social life. He told a number of stories and jokes while 
Congressman Longyear and several others and myself were in 
the room. He spoke in a very high falsetto key most of the time, 
and made everyone feel perfectly at home. 

In regard to this tone of voice, one of Mr. Lincoln's colleagues 
says: "He used, in his excitement (1836) for the first time that 
singularly effective clear tenor tone of voice which afterward 
became so widely known in the political battles of the West." 

He read over my recommendations, which were signed by 
Senator Lyman Trumbull, Governor Richard Yates, Lieutenant 
Governor Bross, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, and others. 
He said he would try to give me a consulship in Germany. 
Seeing the German pamphlet which I had prepared, and which 
had been circulated as a campaign document before his election, 
he remarked that he had commenced to study that language, 
but had not advanced further than to say, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch, 
mein Herr?" He finally doubled up my papers and wrote the 
following on the back of them : Address to Hon. Wm. H. Sew- 
ard. "Will the secretary of state please see and hear the bearer, 
Mr. Ulrich, and oblige him if he conveniently can? He is a 
young man residing in the place of my residence, Springfield, 
and of a most respectable family, as he is also himself." Signed, 
Abraham Lincoln, February i, 1865. 

I considered this a very good introduction to the secretary of 
state, William M. Seward. I subsequently had an interview 
with Mr. Frederick W. Seward, the secretary's son, who placed 



146 Abraham Lincoln 



my papers on file. Fie said I would receive a position under the 
Government, without doubt, in some part of Germany. 
To His Excellency, 

Ahraham Lincoln, President. 

We respectfully petition your Excellency to appoint Bartow 
A. Ulrich of the City of Chicago, a Consul at one of the German 
sea-port cities. He is familiar with the German language, has 
traveled in Germany and lived there for two years at Heidelberg. 
He took great interest in the late Campaign and distributed Ger- 
man crmpaign pamphlets of his own production among the 
Germans of Illinois, advocating your election. He has published 
an important book used in the Campaign, bearing the endorse- 
ment of the Honorable Governor Richard Yates, entitled "A 
Treatise on Government, Showing the Superiority of the United 
States Government over all others." 

We are confident that should Mr. Ulrich receive this appoint- 
ment he will fill it with credit to himself and to his country. He 
seems qualified, both on account of his knowledge of the Ger- 
man language and his understanding of the law and general busi- 
ness. We therefore recommend him to Your Excellency for 
said position. 

Respectfully, 
I. Y. Scammon Richard Yates 

Geo. C. Bates Wm. Bross 

Geo. Schneider Lyman Trumbell 

Charles L. Williams 



COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTE. 

On February 8, 1865, the capitol was crowded wath visitors 
and congressmen on account of the counting of the presidential 
vote. I went to the House of Representatives early before the 
crowd came in. At 12 o'clock the House was called to order, and 
the Chaplain, Rev. Dr. Channing, delivered a prayer, then the 
regular business commenced. At one o'clock the members of the 
Senate marched in, quietly taking their seats with the represent- 
atives. The Vice-President occupied the speaker's seat, and the 
tellers took their places in front of him. Then the whole Con- 
gress of the United States being collected, it was called to order, 
and the Vice-President commenced opening the envelopes con- 
taining the electoral votes of each state, handing them to Mr. 
Trumbull. 

The returns from the loyal states, including West Virginia, 
were counted, showing 212 electoral votes for Lincoln and 21 



Abraham Lincoln 147 



for Gen. George B. McClellan. The Vice-President announced 
that Abraham Lincoln, of the state of IlHnois, having received 
a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, was duly- 
elected President of the United States, for four years, commenc- 
ing on the 4th day of March, 1865. 

Mr. Trumbull read the ballots and announced the results to the 
vast audience. All the states were for Lincoln and Johnson, ex- 
cept New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky, which three states 
went for McClellan and Pendleton. After the votes were all 
separately reported, the total was announced, and the two great 
bodies, the House and Senate, separated, the senators slowly 
leaving the hall two by two. I felt highly favored on account of 
being a witness to this interesting sight which completed the elec- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln the second time as President of the United 
States. 

The following night I attended the reception at the White 
House, and shook hands with the President and Mrs. Lincoln, 
who sent her respects to my mother, whom" she said she knew 
very well in Springfield. I met Robert Lincoln, whom I already 
knew, and Mr. John Hay and Mr. Nicolay. 

Among the great crowd assembled were many foreign minis- 
ters with their wives and daughters, as well as congressmen, cab- 
inet officers, and military men. There was a great crowd in the 
outer room, but the distinguished personages, including the Sec- 
retary of State and naval officers were in the blue room. 

Probably at this time in Washington the plot was being 
formed by some of his enemies to assassinate Lincoln and some 
members of the cabinet including Secretary W. H. Seward, but 
no one seemed to anticipate the terrible calamity which occurred 
at a time when the fratracidal war seemed to be at an end and 
peace was dawning upon the country. 



Lincoln's response to committee notifying him of his re- 
election, 

"With deep gratitude to my countrymen for this mark of their 
confidence with a distrust of my own ability to perform the du- 
ties required, under the most favorable circumstances, and now 
rendered doubly difficult by existing national perils, yet with a 
firm reliance on the strength of our free government, and the 
eventual loyalty of the people to the just principals upon which 
it is founded, and above all with our unshaken faith in the su- 
preme ruler of nations, I accept this trust. Be pleased to signify 
this to the respective Houses of Congress." 



148 Abraham Lincoln 



LINCOLN S REPLY TO SERENADE. 

In answer to a serenade on the evening of his reelection, Mr. 
Lincoln said : 

"I am thankful to God for this approval by the people. While 
deeply grateful for this mark of a confidence in me, if I know 
my heart, my gratitude is free from taint of personal triumph, 
but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the peo- 
ple's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of 
humanity." 



Abraham Lincoln 149 



CHAPTER XV. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN VISITS RICHMOND WITH ADMIRAL PORTER, 

APRIL 4TH_, 1865 SHERIDAN OVERTAKES AND DEFEATS GEN. 

EWELL GEN. LEE ASKED TO SURRENDER BY GEN. GRANT — GEN- 
ERALS ORD AND GRIFFIN STOP GENERAL LEE ON THE SOUTH — 
GENERAL MEAD STOPS HIM ON THE NORTH — LEE SURRENDERS 

RICHMOND EVACUATED DAVIS CAPTURED ASSASSINATION 

OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



April 3, 1865, the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry reconnoitered 
and discovering the flight of the rebels took possession of Rich- 
mond. The Union troops were everywhere joyfully received. 
President Lincoln visited the captured city with Senator Sumner, 
Admiral Porter, and little Tad Lincoln. The people thronged 
about him and General Weitzel's men had to clear a passage for 
him through the streets. 

W. O. Stoddard, who was his private secretary, in his life of 
Lincoln, gives a vivid picture of him in Richmond. He says : 
"The President took his hat off reverently to those who sur- 
rounded him, men and women, weeping and shouting praises to 
God, and bowed but he could not speak, for the tears were rolling 
down his cheeks. The liberator had come suddenly among a 
people whose bonds he had broken, and to whom he had opened 
a hope of manhood and womanhood in the days that were to be. 
It was a day, an hour worth living and dying for. and was given 
him to see it. He returned to City Point that night, but paid the 
city another visit three days later and with Mrs. Lincoln and Tad, 
accompanied by Vice-President Johnson and others." 

This was only about one week before the President was as- 
sassinated by Booth. The enlistments were stopped and the re- 
duction and disbandment of the Union army commenced. 

Colonel Charles Francis Adams, grandson of President John 
Quincy Adams, entered Richmond with a colored regiment. 
President Davis left Richmond April 2, 1865. The rebel con- 
gress gave orders to set fire to the tobacco and cotton ware- 
houses and other public properties. The result was a great con- 



150 Abraham Lincoln 



flagration. Seven hundred buildings were destroyed. There was 
robbery and panic in the city. 

Sheridan overtakes and defeats General Ewell. 

General Lee asked to surrender by General Grant. 
April 7 : 

General Lee finally surrenders his army of 28,230 Confederate 

men at Appomattox. 



CAPTURE OF JE;FFERS0N DAVIS. 

"On the first Sunday of April 18, 1865, while seated in St. 
Paul's church, Jefferson Davis received a telegram from Gen- 
eral Lee announcing the fall of Petersburg, the partial destruc- 
tion of his army and the immediate necessity of flight. He left 
the house of worship and hurried home where he and his person- 
al staff of servants spent the rest of the day in packing their 
personal baggage. At midnight everything was in readiness, 
even the gold that remained in the treasury, not exceeding in all 
forty thousand dollars, which was packed among the baggage, 
and under cover of darkness the president of the confederacy 
attended by three members of his cabinet, Breckinridge, Benja- 
min, and Regan, drove rapidly to the train which had been pre- 
pared to carry them from Richmond. 

A few days thereafter the news of the expected calamity of 
General Lee's surrender reached them when they turned their 
faces again toward the South. Breckinridge was sent to confer 
with Johnson, but found him in time to assist in drawing up the 
terms of his celebrated capitulation to Sherman. (Major Gen- 
eral James Harrison Wilson). 

Jefferson Davis was aroused in the early gray of the morning 
by a faithful negro servant (the same who afterwards attended 
his broken fortunes), who had been awakened by the sound of 
firing in the woods. The President had not laid off his clothes, 
and in a moment he had issued from the tent where he was 
sleeping. The woods were filled with mounted troops and no- 
ticing that they were deploying as if to surround the camp he 
quickly imagined their character and design and returned within 
the tent, either to alarm Mistress Davis, or there to submit de- 
cently to capture. She besought him to escape, and pointing to an 
opening in the tent, threw over his shoulders a shawl which he 
had been accustomed to wear. His horse, a fleet and spirited one, 
was tied to a tree at some distance. He was within a few steps of 
the animal that might have borne him out of danger when a fed- 
eral soldier halted him and demanded to know if he was armed. 



Abraham Lincoln 151 

Davis is reported as saying "If 1 were armed, you would not be 
living to ask the question". Colonel Pntchard commanding the 
body of cavalry, rode up and addressed him by name, demand- 
ing his surrender. 

He submitted^ walked back to the tent, and in the presence of 
his wife asked Colonel Pritchard if she might continue her jour- 
ney. The reply of the Colonel was that his orders were to arrest 
all the party. Mr. Davis rejoined with sarcasm: "Then, Sir, 
what has been said is true : your government does make war up- 
on women". 

The unhappy prisoner after these words was coldly silent, 
asking no questions of his fate. Not intruded upon by any curi- 
osity of the captors, conversing only to the faithful and devoted 
wife, from whom he was not yet divided, and wliose whispers of 
afi'ectionate solicitude by his side were all to lighten the journey 
as he rode moodily in the cavalcade back to Macon, where hrst 
he was to learn the extent of his misery and to commence the 
dread career of the penalties he had accumulated by four long 
and bitter years of war. (Phila. Times Annals of the War.) 

In another article Mr. Regan says "if it is meant by this state- 
ment simply that the money in the treasury (gold and all) was 
taken with the archives of public property away from Rich- 
mond by the proper department officers the statement is correct, 
but if it meant by this insidious form of statement to be under- 
stood that this or any other public money was taken from Rich- 
mond in Mr. Davis's baggage then the statement was wholly 
false." (Pollard.) 

Since March 29th, 19,132 men had surrendered, making in all 
47.363- General Ord and Griffin had stopped General Lee on 
the south and General Meade stopped them in the north while 
Sheridan had taken Lee's supplies. 

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

On April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was assassin- 
ated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's theatre. 

Nearly nineteen hundred years after the martyrdom of Christ 
Jesus, the great advocate of complete liberty, including freedom 
from sin, Abraham Lincoln appeared in the political arena of the 
United States, boldly defending the Union and liberty, and hurl- 
ing defiance in the face of a slave aristocracy, knowing at the 
time that under the circumstances, it might cost him his life. 
Finally, as the President of the United States, he overthrew the 
slave power of the South, liberated the negro, and saved the 
Union. He was assassinated by enemies favoring the South, but 
not by the leaders of the rebellion. Thus he, too, was sacrificed 
for maintaining higher ideas of justice and liberty. 

Had he not stood forth in defiance of rebellion and slavery, 
when the Chief Executive of the Nation, the Union might have 



152 Abraham Lincoln 

been destroyed and slavery retained in America for the time be- 
ing. 

For detail description of President Lincoln's assassination and 
events transpiring at the close of his administration see following. 
Memorial Address by Bancroft, 1866. 
Recollections of Lincoln, 1847-65, by Lamon, 1895. 
History of Lincoln by Nicolay and Hay, 1890. 
Every-day Life of Lincoln, by F. F. Browne. 
History of Lincoln, by Arnold, 1867. 
Essay on Lincoln, by Carl Schurz, 1891. 
Fifty Years Public Service, by Senator S. M. Cullom. 



Part II 
Constitutional Government 



Preface 



PREFACE 

Government by a written constitution, as now understood, in 
place of a personal government, or Sovereignty, has been a factor 
of slow and bitterly contested growth for promoting the liberty 
of the individual and a representative government, in opposition 
to monarchical precedents. This plan of government or an ideal 
Republic has long existed in the minds of men and has struggled 
for realization for centuries. It was foreshadowed in the old Ro- 
man and Greek republics and in the various charters granted by 
kings of England from William the First, (1066-1089) until 1215, 
when King John was compelled to grant the written "Magna 
Charta" at Runnymede. It was later introduced in the articles 
of confederation between the forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz 
and Unterwalden in 1291, which confederation was gradually 
built up subsequently through the annexation of new cantons 
until now twenty-two comprise the republic of Switzerland. 

This scheme of government, however, which had floated as a 
glorious vision in the imagination of the sons of men dissatisfied 
with monarchical rule for so long a period, was never realized nor 
materially established on so elaborate a scale that all the world 
was compelled to recognize it, until the founding of the Represen- 
tative Democracy of the United States of America. It eliminated 
a personal sovereign forever, after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, July 4th, 1776, and the successful termination of the Revo- 
lution, precipitated by the tyrannical demands made upon his sub- 
ject colonies by George the Third, in defiance of well established 
constitutional precedents. 

The Articles of "Confederation and Perpetual Union," rati- 
fied March ist, 1781, and the subsequent Constitution made to 
form a more perfect union and ratified by all the states in 1788 
was tested to its utmost capacity by the unprecedented civil war 
of 1861. 

The contention between the Northern and Southern states was 
the right of secession. The extension of slavery into the terri- 
tories WHS also contested and decided in the affirmative by Chief 
Justice Taney in the Dred Scott case March 6th, 1857. 

The Supreme Court held : — 

I. That negroes had not been regarded as citizens by the 
framers of the Constitution, and that, therefore, they could not 
bring suit in a United States Court. 



ii Preface 



2. That the Constitution recognizes the right of property in 
slaves, and recognizes no difference between such property and 
any other, and that therefore Congress could not limit the right of 
property in slaves, even in the territories. 

3. That the Missouri Compromise, limiting the right of prop- 
erty in slaves, was unconstitutional, and therefore null and void; 
and that, therefore, slave owners could carry their slaves into 
any part of the territories, and hold them as such without re- 
gard to the line established by the Missouri Compromise. 

Justices McLean and Curtis' dissenting opinion. — 

ist. That free negroes had been citizens before the adoption 
of the Constitution. 

2nd. That the Constitution had not limited the rights of such 
negroes as citizens. 

3rd. That as many as seven Acts had been passed by Congress 
limiting slavery in the territories, and that these Acts had been 
assented to by Presidents who had been in Constitutional Con- 
vention. 

4th. That the constitutionality of these Acts had never been 
questioned. 

5th. That the validity of the Missouri Compromise was not 
before the court, and that the dissenting justices did not hold any 
opinion of this court, or of any court, binding when expressed 
on a question not legitimately before it. 

The Supreme Court decided by a mere majority vote that nei- 
ther congress nor the territorial legislature can interfere with 
slavery in any of the territories of the United States. This ques- 
tion should have been submitted directly to the citizens of the 
entire country, as is now done in Switzerland under their con- 
stitution through referendum, as the people possess the sover- 
eign power. The prominent political issues of today should 
now be submitted to the voters through a referendum. No one 
has deprived the people of this sovereign power. No one will 
attempt it. 

The slave states declared their right to secede from the Union 
and did secede. They knew they could not carr}^ out the anti- 
democratic decision eminating from the judicial branch of a free 
Republic which on this occasion assumed the power of an oli- 
garchy, or a majority of the Supreme Court assume this power, 
for there was a dissenting opinion given by Justices McLean and 
Curtis. One of the fundamental principles of our republic and 
all republics was ruthlessly set aside. 

Abraham Lincoln in his convention speech, said : "A house 
divided against itself cannot stand" and, that, "this government 
cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." 

No English court would have assumed the responsibility of 



Preface 



111 



rendering such an archaic and despotic decision in the nineteenth 
century : that there was no difference between property in slaves 
(human beings) and any other property. 

_ "President Lincoln practically disregarded the Dred Scott deci- 
sion in the policy of his administration with reference to slavery, 
and he was no doubt justified in doing so. That decision has 
not and could not have any direct bearing on the duties of the 
executive department." (McClain, Constitutional Law in Amer- 
ica, page 202.) 

The word "slave" is not used in the constitution, nor does the 
constitution imply that there is no difference between property in 
slaves and other property, because there is. for no slaveholder 
could kill a slave as he could kill an ox. This entire opinion was 
an attempt to put into the constitution something never intended 
by its framers. Other property could be taken into British pos- 
sessions but slaves, who instantly became free. 

The Civil War followed, through a chain of events not neces- 
sary to be retraced here, since they belong in another department 
of history. After four years of conflict the union was re-estab- 
lished on a firmer footing, and the constitution so amended as to 
make the government an absolutely representative democracy. 

This triumph set in motion forces that shall profoundly affect 
other nations for all time. The example of a complete represen- 
tative democracy standing upon a basic law that guaranteed the 
rights and liberties of all the people, without discrimination, set- 
ting aside the archaic decree of the Supreme Court in 1857, while 
leaving in the hands of the people, through equal universal suf- 
frage, the power to make such changes as time and events might 
show to be necessary and to make the Constitution consistent 
throughout, has been followed by three continental European 
States, and through a gradual process of elimination by substitu- 
tion, has radically changed the monarchical form in many of the 
others. This change has generally been brought about peace- 
fully through evolution, not by civil war and revolution. 

It prevails throughout all the states of the Western Hemi- 
sphere, on the continent of Europe and in China. Great Britain 
has no regularly consolidated written constitution, but has its 
elaborate Magna Charta, the Habeas Corpus Act (1679), the 
"Bill of Rights," granted by William and Mary (1689), and the 
"Petition of Rights" (1628). These instruments were called by 
Lord Chatham "the Bible of English Constitutions," and with 
other charters and statutes contain the elements of constitutional 
liberty. England has shown preference for this form of govern- 
ment by granting to Canada and Australia and New Zealand lib- 
eral constitutions creating separate, independent nations with 
local self-governments which, however, voluntarily remain inte- 



iv Preface 

gers of the British Empire. They have all shown their devo- 
tion and loyalty in the mother country. 

The rise and spread of this new theory and practice of govern- 
ment is the most significant development of the last hundred years 
— perhaps of all history. The purpose of the present work is to 
disclose the facts in connection with it, and to so group them that 
their meanings and their effects on each other and the world shall 
be made clear. Their compilation and the research it imposed be- 
gan in 1863, and have been carried along continuously and care- 
fully down to and following the inclusion of Portugal and China 
in the family of republics. 

In 1863 I was a student in the law department of Michigan 
University. Upon graduation from that department, each student 
was required to write a thesis. Having previously studied at the 
University of Heidelberg in Germany in 1858-60, I became inter- 
ested in the various forms of government in Europe, and I chose 
for my theme "A Comparison Between the Form of Govern- 
ment of the Republic or Representative Democracy of the United 
States and Those of Other Nations." 

My thesis was submitted to Professor Thomas Maclntire 
Cooley, LL. D. ; James Valentine Campbell, LL. D., and Charles 
Irish Walker, LL. D., of the Law Department, and at their sug- 
gestion several changes were made. 

These suggestions brought about a further investigation which 
finally led to the production of this work, to which I have de- 
voted a great amount of close application, tracing the events 
creating liberal constitutions in the last half century. 

The Civil War then drawing toward its close naturally caused 
my mind, like many others, to follow closely the progress of 
events. Even then, under the critical conditions through which 
the nation was passing, the steadfast attitude of our great patriot 
and statesman, Abraham Lincoln, and the development of his 
clear understanding of constitutional government engrossed my 
attention and confirmed my conviction that our representative 
democracy, with its written constitution (subsec|uently amended) 
is preferable to any other form of government that has been suc- 
cessfully tested. It is the abuse of this form of government 
which excites criticism. 

The re-establishment of the federal government over all the 
United States of America with the continuation of the republic 
intact, demonstrated the capability of a popular representative 
democracy to maintain its life, its cherished institutions, and its 
equilibrium in the most adverse circumstances. Under the con- 
stitution order was brought about and the reconstruction of the 
seceded states accomplished in much less time than was taken to 
restore the former government of England (with its sovereign 



Preface 



power lodged in an individual) after the thirteen years of 
Cromwell's rule which followed the execution of Charles the 
First, or in France after the fall of Louis the Sixteenth. 

Their throne was not restored to the Bourbons until 1814, 
when Louis XVIIL was crowned King, and later when Louis 
Philippe took his place, being the last of the race who reigned in 
France. Since 1871 France has been a constitutional republic. 

Many things have changed and history has been rapidly cre- 
ated since our civil war. I have endeavored in this book to 
trace these changes, to show their world-interactions, and their 
steady trend in the direction of liberal representative constitu- 
tional government with equal universal suffrage. 

It is evident that the effect of our American initiative in 
this has been especially and beneficially felt by France, Ger- 
many, Japan, the South and Central American countries, Belgium, 
Portugal, Russia and China, as well as the self-governing states 
comprising the British Empire. 

It has been necessary in order to complete the work satisfac- 
torily to draw largely from well-known and accredited writers 
and to study thoroughly current literature treating upon this com- 
plicated subject. In order to acquire a knowledge of the different 
form.s of government so as to compare them, I have read the 
books treating upon this subject that were in the University 
Library at Ann Arbor. These were the works of Montesquieu, 
de Tocqueville, Bacon and de Lorme, The Federalist, Story on 
the Constitution, Anser on Government, also the messages and 
speeches of George Washington. Daniel Webster, Abraham Lin- 
coln, William H. Seward, Charles Sumner and other statesmen 
to whom special authority in this field is accredited. 

Conspicuous among the many other authors subsequently con- 
sulted are John Fiske, (American Political Ideas) ; A. Lawrence 
Lowell of Harvard University, (Governments and Parties m 
Continental Europe) ; Walter Fairleigh Dodd (Modern Consti- 
tutions, Press of the University of Chicago, 1908), Prof. Fred- 
erick Austin Ogg (Governments of Europe), James Bryce 
(American Commonwealth), William Stubbs, M. A., Oxford, 
1870 (Select Charters) ; Emlin McClain, LL.D. (Constitutional 
Law in the United States) ; T. W. Cooley of Michigan Univer- 
sity (Comparative Merits of Written Constitutions) ; B. E. How- 
ard (The German Empire). 

The bibliography is not comprehensive, but I desire to acknowl- 
edge special obligation to the authorities above mentioned. 

For events of to-day bearing on new Constitutions and gov- 
ernmental changes I wish to acknowledge help received from 



vi Preface 

news gathered from the Christian Science Monitor and the Lit- 
erary Digest. 

Bartow A. Ui.rich. 
January, 1914. 

The following letter from Governor Yates will explain itself: 

State; of Illinois, Executivk Dspartaient 

Springfield, June 30, 1864. 
Bartow A. Ulrich, Esq. : 

DUAR Sir: I have just finished the reading of your manu- 
script, entitled, "A Short and Practical Treatise on Government, 
Showing the Superiority of the United States Government Over 
All Others." 

I have found it a very interesting, impartial and able exposi- 
tion of the different forms of government, clearly defining and 
contrasting the structure and powers of each, and triumphantly 
vindicating the superiority of representative democracy over all 
others. The analysis of the powers of the Constitution and the 
distinction between National and State sovereignty, are con- 
cise, lucid and well defined. 

No one can read your work without interest and profit ; and 
at no time since the formation of the Government has there been 
such necessity for some plain treatise on its nature, workings, 
and adaption to the wants of the people as now. 

I can look to a wide circulation of your work among the people 
as potent for good, and I could wish to see it a hand-book in all 
the homesteads of the land. It will be a new stimulus to loyalty, 
a reminder of the good we are fighting for — nerving the popular 
mind and heart to hold on with unyielding purpose to a Gov- 
ernment founded by the best men, in so much wisdom, and so 
full of benefactions to the people now, and of promise for pos- 
terity. Truly yours, 

Richard Yates. 

This letter and the thesis were circulated by the Union League 
as a campaign document in Mr. Lincoln's second candidacy for 
the Presidential office. 

In 1880, this thesis, revised, was put to similar use in the cam- 
paign that resulted in the election of James A. Garfield. General 
Garfield himself sent me this acknowledgment : 



Preface vii 

Mentor, O., July 26, 1880. 

Mr. B. a. Ulrich, iio Dearborn St., Chicago, III: 

Dear Sir — Yours of the 24th inst. inclosing proof slips of your 
Treatise on Representative Democracy, is received. I regret that 
I have not time to read it carefully and critically, but I have 
glanced over its leading points enough to see that it is of import- 
ance. If I had the time should be glad to comply v^ith your 
request and make suggestions on the subject. When it is pub- 
lished please send me a copy. I return the slips. 

Very truly yours, 

J. A. Garfield. 

During the Garfield campaign Governor (afterward Senator) 
Cullom v^rrote as follows : 

State of Illinois, Executive Department 

Springfield, Aug. 3, 1880. 

B. A. Ulrich, Esq., Chicago, 111. : 

Dear Sir: I have read with much interest your pamphlet 
entitled "A Comparison Between the Forms of Government of 
the Representative Democracy or Republic of the United States, 
and Those of Other Nationalities," etc. 

It is an able contribution upon a subject now deservedly occu- 
pying public attention. Its historical allusions are very valuable 
and instructive. Its logic in favor of our own form of Govern- 
ment is as convincing as the conclusion is satisfactory. This is 
a Nation with a big N, and all the people ought to understand 
their relations to it as such. 

I would be glad to see your work in the hands of every intelli- 
gent voter. 

Very truly yours, 

S. M. CULLOM. 



Constitutional Government 155 



CHAPTER I 



COMPARISONS OF THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

There must be in all governments a supreme and controlling 
power which can be enforced, placed in some particular person 
or assemblage of persons, chosen by the people as in a republic, 
or hereditary as in a monarchy, from which central point can 
flow the commands to do or not to do certain things for or 
against the good of all under that government. 

Monarchy, aristocracy and democracy are the tliree 
great divisions of government. Any two of these, or all, may be 
limited and combined in the formation of one government, which 
is called a mixed government, as that of Great Britain. 

A Monarchical form of government exists where the supreme 
and controlling power is placed in the hands of one person, as in 
Russia; an Aristocratic form, where this power is given to a 
certain class of people, generally for no other reason than that 
of their birth and their inheritance, as in Athens under the 
control of the Four Hundred ; and a Democratic form of govern- 
ment, where this supreme and controlling power is given to the 
people who compose the nation under that government, either 
directly or by representation, as in Switzerland and in the United 
States. 

Modern systems of government comprise: A confederation 
of states: this is created by a league or compact between states 
for mutual protection, as the old Confederation of Germany be- 
fore the German Empire was established, and the early confed- 
eration of Switzerland. A Federation is a union of states under 
one central government, as the United States at present, being a 
compact between the states, which by the terms of the contract 
surrender their general sovereignty and form a Federal Union. 
A Constitutional Monarchy can be formed by having a writ- 
ten constitution providing for a parliament or congress, and a 
ministry accountable to the same, as in Belgium, or accountable 
to the Monarch, as in Russia; a dual government, where two 
nations, each having a constitution, with a congress or parliament, 
have one king who acts for both. These forms of monarchies 
can be elective or hereditary. A Constitutional Monarchy can 
exist without a definite written constitution, as in England, where 
old charters, acts of parliament and statutes form precedents, 



156 Constitutional Government 



but no written constitution exists. An Oligarchy is an aristocracy- 
drawn into fewer hands. The government of Scotland became 
an Oligarchy when, in the reign of James II., the administration 
of the public purse and with it the power of the state, was con- 
ferred on eight men, called on that account Octavians. This 
form of government has become practically obsolete. 

"The constitution of a government is the body or collection of 
rules and principles in accordance with which the powers of that 
government are exercised ; and a constitutional government is 
one the powers of which are exercised in accordance with rules 
and principles which are generally accepted as binding upon it 
and usually follow." 



WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. 

"In this proper and usual sense all the governments of civil- 
ized peoples are constitutional, whether they are monarchical or 
republican." E. McClain, § 5, Constitutional Law in the United 
States ; T. W. Cooley, Comparative Merits of Written and Pre- 
scriptive Constitutions (Am. Law Rev. xxiii, 311) ; S. G. Fisher, 
Evolution of the Constitution of the United States. 

"The proposition that government exists for the benefit of the 
governed, and not merely for the advantage of those who 
exercise the powers of government, is not original with the 
American people. It had been recognized as fundamental by 
many writers before the Revolution, and is a necessary outcome 
of the fact demonstrated by human experience, that as between 
a single ruler, or a small ruling class, and the mass of the people 
who are ruled, the great preponderance of power and resource 
is with the latter. This consideration has made it essential that 
all rulers, or governing classes, shall at least pretend to administer 
government for the benefit of the governed." (E. McClain.) 

Considering government as essential to the control of men in 
their social state, we will examine these different forms and see 
v/hich is the most conducive to the promotion of order, prosperity 
and liberty in the various stages of civilization. 



Constitutional Government 157 



CHAPTER II 

Representative; Democracy 

Montesquieu, in " the Spirit of Lazvs," thus defines democ- 
racy : "When the body of the people in a republic are possessed 
of the supreme pozver, this is called a democracy." And he con- 
tinues : "When the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a 
part of the people it is then an aristocracy." Noah Webster gives 
the following definitions : Democracy ; "Government by the peo- 
ple," "a form of government in which the supreme power is 
lodged in the hands of the people collectively." Democrat; "one 
who adheres to a government by the people, or favors the exten- 
sion of the right of suffrage to all classes of men." Our repub- 
lic, a representative democracy, is to-day the greatest and most 
perfect that ever existed. In comparison, it throws Rome, wnth 
all her grandeur in the height of her ancient glory, even when 
boasting of her democracy and liberty, as well as the republics of 
Athens, Greece and Florence, into the shade of inherent slavery 
and despotism, and has left far in the back ground all other peo- 
ples who have striven against the power of arbitrary rule to con- 
struct an independent democracy. Our democratic system of 
government attracts the attention of the civilized world; the 
word itself has a sweet and welcome sound to the ear of the op- 
pressed of all foreign arbitrary governments. With it are con- 
nected all their ideas of liberty, equality, and the natural rights 
of man. In their minds it is the synonym of all that is adverse 
to monarchy, and to every form of arbitrary and tyrannical rule. 
Large representations from nearly all climes and nations, hear- 
ing the glad tidings of the founding of a new republic in the 
Western world, flocked to our vast and productive territorities, 
here to find freedom and personal security under our democratic 
form of government. And here, also, were forcibly brought the 
children of the burning regions of Africa, who, in violation of 
the fundamental principles of democracy, were fettered in the 
most abject slavery which was the first step — and one taken even 
in its infancy — towards transforming our government into a 
rigorous aristocracy. 

After a fratricidal and bloody war for the supremacy of 
our united republic, and of the principles of equal rights and 



158 Constitutional Government 



general and untrammelled freedom — the inseparable adjuncts of 
a pure democracy — the millions of enslaved men and women of 
the South were liberated, and the aristocratic power which had 
nourished slavery was broken. Now that it is effected, every 
purely democratic citizen hails the triumph as the culmination of 
all that is truly benign, liberal and protective to personal free- 
dom and security in our enlightened government. The people 
should remember the dangers of limiting the powers and privi- 
leges of certain classes on account of birth, or in other words of 
color, — of the overbearing aristocracy, or nobility of Europe, — 
how those who are born with exclusive powers crave an enlarge- 
ment of those powers at the sacrifice of the rights of others, — 
and that the security and perpetuity of the liberties of each man 
and his decendants in the nation, depend upon the universal and 
unequivocal freedom and political equality of every man and his 
descendants in the nation. 



LIBERTY. 

The world has been twice electrified by the wars successfully 
fought upon the western continent in support of liberty. The 
revolutionary war not only freed the North American colonies 
and secured to them a republic, but France, Great Britain and 
the continental states felt the mighty wave of popular inde- 
pendence impelled from the western shores of the new world. 
Through the victory of the union in the civil war not alone the 
enslaved negro, but also the down-trodden of Poland, the op- 
pressed of Italy, the thwarted of Hungary, the serfs of Russia, 
the once outraged people of Mexico and those of other nations, 
deprived of freedom by a tyrannical and arbitrary power, felt 
the electric shock and the magnetic influence of the powerful 
force of personal liberty which for the second time shook the 
continent of America. 

These two wars, fought under the banner and in the name of 
Liberty, caused ancient thrones and the knees of monarchs to 
tremble ; crowns seemed to become possessed with wings, threat- 
ening to fly away from those who nervously grasped them; em- 
pires seemed to rest upon trembling earthquakes and volcanoes 
appeared to be rumbling beneath mighty kingdoms, ready at any 
moment to burst forth and destroy them, thus changing the en- 
tire map of the old world. 

Although these modern wars have ended, the result being de- 
cided in favor of the principle of liberty, the influences brought 
to bear upon the destinies of nations has yet to bear fruit. France 



Constitutional Government 159 



threw off the rule of the Bourbons and the power of the Napo- 
leons, while Prussia broke the dominant sway of Austria and 
set at defiance the "modern" emperor decked in the garb pre- 
pared by his teacher, Machiavelli, and he, Napoleon III., was 
forced to acknowledge the superior claims of national as well 
as individual Hberty. Mexico boiled to her center with righteous 
indignation and cast out the pampered children of European 
despots and shot Maximilian as a common felon. 

The way is now open for the progress and universal sway of 
liberty in the new world. When Cuba cried for help against the 
cruelty of Spanish mediaeval despotism, as brutal in its nature 
as Nero's reign over Rome's captive slaves, the creature of lib- 
erty, the United States of America, sprang to her rescue. The 
army and navy of a republic arose in their majesty to crush the 
hydra-headed monster of anti-Christian Neroism. Today Russia, 
Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Turkey maintain great ar- 
mies and navies to keep in subjection their provinces and their 
classes. Were these military forces disbanded the mass of people 
now held in subjugation would not tolerate a dominating class 
who heretofore ruled and now rule them with a rod of iron. 
These ruling forces think they have the right, directly or indi- 
rectly, to control the world, and even all America is considered 
subject to their arbitrary dictatorial will. It was our duty, as 
freemen and representatives of a free government, to drive out 
of Cuba the cruel Spaniards, and destroy them as Maximilian 
was overthrown and annihilated in Mexico. A republic was se- 
cured for Cuba as Mexico secured a republic. European powers 
should understand that we are not only able to maintain our re- 
public, but also to protect and establish other republics on this 
side of the Atlantic. The victory of the American navy at Ma- 
nila demonstrates the fact that the slave armies and navies of des- 
potism are no match for armies and navies comprised of inde- 
pendent citizens of a republic. 

There is no cause for advocating socialism or anarchism here. 
America, today, is the grandest, most enlightened and freest na- 
tion that has existed in the world. Its sons and daughters have 
greater liberty and privileges than those of the Free Romans at 
any time, and they are equal to the independent princes of today, 
possessing not only the most diversified, rich and magnificent 
territory on the face of the whole earth, but also a Government 
the most liberal and humane of any yet constituted for man. 
Created through the wisdom of great statesmen, who were not 
willing to endure the oppression of the old and tyrannical Gov- 
ernments of Europe, yet who believed in law and order, and 
expected that the laws of the republic would be obeyed and en- 
forced as promptly as the laws of an empire. It is now to the 



160 Constitutional Government 



interest of all classes, whether employers or employes, to see that 
our laws are enforced. A comparison of this Government with 
the various other forms of Government, monarchial, aristocrat- 
ical or mixed, will demonstrate its superiority and should con- 
vince every citizen that anarchism, communism, socialism or other 
theories advanced by those who think that they could do better 
are not needed if honest men are elected to office, our present 
form of government properly administered and our laws exe- 
cuted. Old monarchies, jealous of our republic could not destroy 
it easier than to secretly aid the plans and purposes of commu- 
nists and anarchists who ignore our laws and threaten the lives 
of those who represent the Government. Should such men ever 
succeed to break up the republic, which I believe impossible, 
especially since the verdict rendered in the great trial of anarchy 
in Chicago, a despotism like that of Russia would at once be 
established, of necessity, to throttle anarchism by military rule. 
To avoid this threatened danger those who wish to uphold free- 
dom, oppose despotism, anarchy, communism or socialism, should 
elect to office at all times those who will honestly represent the 
principles of our government and faithfully and fearlessly enact 
the laws. 

Men should not be elected who do not comprehend the pro- 
found theory of Republicanism, but who are the superficial lead- 
ers of political cliques. 

Every good citizen in the United States of America should 
consider himself an integrant part of the Government, ready to 
defend and sustain the entire fabric, if attacked, in an intelligent 
and conservative manner. 

THE SO-CALLED DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. 

To prove the utter fallacy of such a claim, compare the presi- 
dents chosen by universal suffrage in the United States, from 
Washington to Wilson, with the several Kings, Emperors, Czars 
of Europe who have reigned during the same time. 

We all know the position taken by George III. in reference to 
taxing the American colonies in order to raise money to meet the 
expenses of the previous wars of England. He did this in viola- 
tion of the English Constitution, which Charles I. had also vio- 
lated in the same way. It was contrary to the principles of par- 
liamentary government in England for the King to attempt to 
raise money" by taxation on his own account, as this was the pre- 
rogative of the House of Commons. Besides he was taxing sub- 
jects of Great Britain who were not represented in parliament. 
He was not sustained in this action even by many of the leading 
statesmen of England. 



Constitutional Government 161 



George III. was continually in difficulty with the ministry and 
he gave little evidence of ability in administrative affairs. Fi- 
nally in 1811 he became hopelessly insane and remained so for 
nine years. 

During this period we had as presidents, George Washington 
and John Adams. These men, all will admit, were far superior 
in administrative ability and in every way to George III. 

Next we come to George IV. He proved to be a profligate 
of the worst kind, and was noted for his disgusting social re- 
lations and complications. The people suffered from his incapac- 
ity and profligate reign from 181 1 till 1830. During this time 
we had Madison, Monroe and Jackson. There is no comparison 
between these able presidents and the licentious George IV. 
Queen Victoria reigned between 1837 ^"*^ 1901, successfully and 
wisely but parliament governed. She was succeeded by Edward 
VII. and his son George V. who were each highly accomplished 
and amicable gentlemen and it may be truthfully said that they 
also reigned wisely and successfully but that parliament and 
the Ministry in the meantime governed the great empire of great 
Britain. 

During these years of wise governmental administration in the 
United States, Prussia was under the direction of Frederick 
William II. from 1757 to 1797. He managed to involve the na- 
tion in debt and antagonized his subjects by his censorship of the 
press and his aft'airs with the woman — Wilhelmina Encke, Frells, 
Von Voss and others. His mind was occupied with mystical 
occult demonstrations and he cannot be compared with our presi- 
dents as to ability and manly character. 

Frederick William III., who succeeded him, was defeated by 
Napoleon and lost most of his provinces. He was a man of in- 
ferior capacity and vacillating temperament, but nevertheless an 
autocratic ruler. The best achievements of his reign were due 
to the ability and good judgment of his wife, the beloved Queen 
Louisa. As a ruler and statesman he was not the equal of the 
presidents holding office during his reign. 

Frederick William IV. was inconsistent in his dealings with his 
people. He was arbitrary and autocratic and finally became in- 
sane. William I. who succeeded him was the first Hohenzollern 
since Frederick the Great who displayed marked ability as a 
ruling sovereign. He was on a plane of equality with the major- 
ity of the presidents who have administered the affairs of the 
United States government. He was first regent and in 1861 be- 
came King. He was co-temporary with Abraham Lincoln and 
was successful in the Franco-Prussian war, with the assistance 
of Bismarck, in establishing the German Empire. 



162 Constitutional Government 



William II. King of Prussia and President of the German 
Empire with the title of German Emperor, proved to be a very 
efficient and popular ruler up to the commencement of the war 
precipitated August 1914. Until the outcome and causes of the 
war are thoroughly understood and the sequel historically re- 
corded, it is impossible to correctly estimate his place among 
Imperial rulers. 



Constitutional Government 163 



CHAPTER III. 



THE IMPERIAL TRUST. 



Today four European sovereigns, Francis Joseph, Emperor of 
Austria-Hungary, Emperor William H. of Germany, Czar Nich- 
olas n. of Russia, George V., King of England and Emperor of 
India, rule directly and indirectly over 650,000,000 subjects. 
Their jurisdiction extends over two-thirds of the area of the 
globe, including Austria-Hungary, Russia, Siberia, part of China, 
India, Great Britain, including Canada, Australia, West Indies, 
Egypt, British possessions in Africa, and then the German Em- 
pire with all its states and possessions. These three monarchs 
can act, if they desire to do so, as a unit on any proposition 
which affects them severally or jointly, the same as the heads or 
presidents of three large and comprehensive corporations with af- 
filiated companies. Their armies and navies can be called to- 
gether instantaneously, and unite in carrying out some scheme 
which all the rulers desire, or throw the entire world into confu- 
sion if they have a family quarrel as the great conflict now going 
on proves. 

Co-operation with the legislative branches of the different 
nations of course must be forced or obtained in some way. These 
rulers are all connected by family ties of intermarriage. The 
great standing armies under their control are maintained in a 
greater degree than is generally understood for the purpose of 
supporting and defending these sovereigns individually and col- 
lectively against the interference of their own subjects as well as 
to protect the different countries against each other and antago- 
nistic nations. It has been in the past almost impossible for the 
people under the control of the rulers forming this imperial trust 
to contend against them successfully or accomplish anything of a 
radical nature in antagonism to this immense aggregation of mate- 
rial wealth and military and naval power. Nevertheless since 
1789 it is stated that all the civilized people of the western 
world wrested constitutions from these and other rulers and now 
in a greater measure than ever before control their political des- 
tinies with such machinery as written constitutions, parliaments, 
congresses, and other legislative bodies, sustained by manhood 
suffrage and strengthened by compulsory universal education. 



164 Constitutional Government 



Through the principle of democracy and nationahties there was 
created a new Germany, a new Italy, a new French republic, a 
new Swiss republic, a democratic England, a constitutional fed- 
erated Austria-Hungary, and a group of free Slav states in the 
Balkan peninsula. All these and the other small states of Europe 
in a good measure remodeled their governments upon English 
and American forms. Prussia and Russia remained the only 
two powers in Europe not reconstructed and the latter of these 
has been nearly thrust back into the ages." (Modern History, 
Willis Mason West.) 

Since the above was published, China has overthrown her 
imperial government and established a republic, and Portugal has 
also retired the Braganza dynasty, and obtained a written repre- 
sentative constitution for a republican form of government. 

The Romanoff dynasty, the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, the 
Bourbons, the Orleanists, the Bonapartes, the English Stuarts, 
the Manchu dynasty of China, and the rulers of the Ottoman 
Empire, who have at different times individually and collect- 
ively assumed to dictate to the world what they should or 
should not do, and subjected large portions of its inhabitants to 
their imperious wills, can no longer hold in this twentieth century 
undisputed or supreme power. The Bourbons, the Orleanists, 
the Bonapartes and the Manchu dynasty are now overthrown. 

There are other equally as great forces in the Western Hemi- 
sphere and in other portions of the world to contest the suprem- 
acy of the remaining sovereigns. The United States itself is 
greater in real wealth and, given time, can muster as much aggres- 
sive power as any one of the great empires mentioned. There are 
individual families in America now who own and control as 
much wealth in their own right as any European king, emperor, 
or czar. There are corporations controlling more material re- 
sources than any two of these old imperial families. There are 
also individual families in these kingly ruled countries who con- 
trol as much wealth as many of the rulers assuming control over 
them. The great mass of the citizens of these monarchies are 
also more advanced and better qualified to rule than ever before. 

With all their wealth, standing armies and navies, fortifica- 
tions and defensive resources, these imperial and kingly families 
with their assumed "divine rights," cannot protect themselves 
against insanity and degeneracy. Modern history shows that they 
are losing their ability to govern and consequently their power is 
passing away from them into other hands. The twentieth century 
will mark, with its gigantic war, it is to be hoped, the permanent 
retirement of all these imperial, ducal, and highly titled families 
who have ruled, misgoverned and destroyed mankind in the past. 
They should be superseded by written constitutions containing 



Constitutional Government 165 



the supreme law of the land, granting universal suffrage when 
expedient and equal rights and protections to all citizens. These 
should take the place of imperial thrones, crowns and the so- 
called divinely appointed sovereigns, who use their power to 
dominate and absorb the wealth of their subjects. 

Nearly every nation of Europe is represented in the United 
vStates of America by a large body of their former subjects, 
amounting in some cases to hundreds of thousands, who are 
now loyal citizens of the republic, living harmoniously under a 
common constitution. This demonstrates the possibility of the 
inhabitants of the different states of Europe uniting and living 
satisfactorily under one constitutional government like that of the 
United States of America, and comprising the United States of 
Europe. By a general election, the people of these several states 
or nations could jointly elect their president and their representa- 
tives to a national congress or parliament and so construct an Eu- 
ropean republic with a written constitution. 

The royal families of the different states or nations are now 
the main obstacle to a united Europe under a constitutional gov- 
ernment. The kings, princes, lords, and barons, and other titled 
personages would then become private citizens living on their 
estates the same as large property owners in America. They 
could fill prominent positions as well as other citizens, if quali- 
fied and elected by the people, and they would probably enjoy 
life more than they do now and have less responsibility. The 
great standing armies could be disbanded and greater • attention 
given to commerce, art, and literature. A citizen of one state 
would then be a citizen of the other state and have a common in- 
terest in all Europe. This would do away with the continual 
war between nations for more territory. 

Kings under certain conditions may be tolerated, but the nation 
should have a free choice and elect a man for a limited term of 
years who is capable to fill the position. 

PROPOSED EUROPEAN PEACE FEDERATION CALLED PRACTICAL. 

A recent press dispatch says : Sir Max Waechter's project 
of a federation of the states of Europe was the subject of an 
interesting lecture delivered at The Hague before the Vrede door 
Recht (Peace through Justice Society) by Mr. Knobel, a member 
of the Second Chamber, and a former envoy to South Africa, 
Persia and other countries. 

The lecturer pointed out that there was an important differ- 
ence between the old and new schools in the peace movement. 
The old method, he said, was to hold up various ideals and to set 



166 Constitutional Government 



up a very exalted standard, without taking into consideration 
whether it could actually be realized, and this did not lead to any 
great results. 

A later generation had arisen, however, which was not con- 
tent merely with contemplation, but first of all strove after defi- 
nite results. The work done by this new movement, the speaker 
said, was slowly but surely advancing. The pacifists of the new 
age were no longer dreamers ; they put proposals before the diplo- 
matists which the latter could reahze if they would. 

He himself had for many years worked at this project of 
Sir Max Waechter for a league of the European states and he 
fully believed in it. The annual cost of armaments in Europe, 
according to Sir Max, was 4,320,000,000 florins, with which sum 
a railway might be built around the entire world. Even so colos- 
sal an undertaking as the Panama canal had not cost more than 
960,000,000 florins. 

The lecturer went on to point out the enormous loss entailed 
to labor by the standing armies which meant that 5.000.000 use- 
ful citizens and 100,000 horses were kept from productive work. 
This in figures meant that a further waste of about 6,000,000,000 
florins, and altogether these, with other pecuniary losses in- 
volved a sum amounting annually to about 12,000,000,000 florins. 

Was not this stupidity, in other words, a new form of slavery, 
and was not the whole expenditure nothing more than an in- 
surance premium against war? Sir Max Waechter's idea is to 
bring about a federation of the states of Europe on an economic 
basis, starting with Great Britain and Germany, whose examples 
other countries might be expected to follow. These chances 
were not, the speaker pointed out, so remote as people might 
think. At the same time a great deal more was to be expected 
from public opinion than from the heads of the various states. 



MONARCHIAL RULE A FAIIvURE. 

As long as monarchical administrations exist, controlled by a 
personal ruler as in Europe, there will be discontent, revolution 
and periodical devastating wars. The courts of Kings, Emperors, 
and Czars are centers of diplomatic intrigue, trickery and un- 
christian and diabolical plots. The supreme ruler is supported 
by the war lords and the army and navy. Depending on the 
reigning house is the bureaucracy which is powerful and tyran- 
nical. The human mind is continually at work under such condi- 
tions to overpower, deceive and destroy all opposition at home 
or in other nations. Armies are trained and armaments manu- 
factured and collected in preparation for immediate attack if de- 



Constitutional Government 167 



cided on to force the secret decision in the Imperial state cham- 
ber. 

Treaties are violated with impunity and treated by great dip- 
lomats and Chancellors, as worthless "scraps of paper". New 
treaties are entered into secretly and carried out to accomplish 
some mysterious plot of which the people know nothing. Mil- 
lions of human beings are killed in cold blood or wounded and 
maimed for life at the command of heartless men who keep 
safely in the background through cowardice. 

Whoever will take the trouble and time to study European his- 
tory for the past two thousand years will discover the truth of 
these statements. It will be the same for a thousand years to 
come unless this system of government is changed and hereditary 
rulers dispensed with entirely and forever. 

Nations so governed are not only disloyal to one another when 
it is to their interest, but are tyrannical, unjust and cruel to those 
they govern by rigid military force. Kings unlike presidents are 
not of and for the people, but look down upon and treat with 
servile rule, the mass of the people. They compel them to support 
them in their extravagance and give their lives to fight for them, 
but refuse to give them real liberty and adequate compensation. 

They divide society into two classes the ruler and the ruled and 
force this distinction through succeeding generations. 

The history of the past ten centuries of the European states 
has demonstrated the utter failure of monarchical governments 
to preserve peace for any length of time between themselves and 
to protect the great mass of people from injustice and tyranny. 
There has been a continual and bloody contest for supremacy 
and territorial aggrandizement by the different royal families 
and this will continue for ten centuries more and until these 
royal and inhuman families are eliminated from their assumed 
divine right of overlordship over the rest of the human race. 



THE PASSING AWAY OF ROYALTY. 

The Bourbons, the Orleanists, the Bonapartes, the Manchu 
dynasty, the Braganza dynasty, have been driven from the sphere 
of royal activity within the last lOO years and republics estab- 
lished to replace them. 

The Hohenzollers and the Hapsburgs are fighting their last 
battles to retain their foothold in Europe, and are liable, like the 
Bourbons, to be destroyed by the chances of war. They have 
led their armies to destruction, leaving on the battlefields and 
among the wounded 2,000,000 of their great armies, and left 
their government in debt for many billions of money. They 



168 Constitutional Government 



cannot rebuild these armies for many decades and place them 
on the footing they had before this unprecedented war. Sooner 
or later they will be called to account by their own burdened 
and stricken people. 

The Ottoman Empire has been almost completely driven out 
of Europe and weakened materially in many ways. 

The world has been dictated to, and at times tyrannized over, 
by these and other royal families for many centuries. 

Now the time has come when the world, which has advanced 
in civilization and education, will call a halt and the twentieth 
century will witness the overthrow and disappearance of these 
dynasties. 



Constitutional Government 169 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Nrw Rkprksentative; Democracy. 

Out of the fiery furnace of the despotic, autocratic and aristo- 
cratic governments of the old world came forth, after a fierce 
struggle, the Democratic Republic of the new. 

After Charles the First was beheaded, Cromwell finally agreed 
to give the people of Virginia all the rights and liberties of free- 
born Englishmen ; they should entrust their business to their own 
General Assembly and should have as free trade as the people 
of England. 

During the Commonwealth under Cromwell, the Colony took 
advantage of the times to establish free institutions in her midst. 
She claimed, and used, the right to choose and to remove her 
governors and to concentrate power in the House of Burgesses. 
She was the first state in the world to establish universal suf- 
frage, a privilege which she conferred on every one of her freed 
servants. She inaugurated free trade and made a great advance 
toward religious freedom. 

The early settlers of New England were greatly favored dur- 
ing the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and their independence 
taught them the blessings of self-government, which they were 
not willing to surrender to the Crov/n when Charles II. came 
to the throne. 

Cromwell, like Lincoln, was a man of the people, and possessed 
liberal, anti-monarchical views of government. He favored the 
independence of the American Colonies, and many of his follow- 
ers emigrated to the United States, both before and after his 
death. 

To show the beginning of our Constitution, the following ex- 
tracts are given from a speech delivered by Joseph Culbertson 
Clayton before the New York Order of the Founders and Pa- 
triots of America, at the Hotel Manhattan, December 14, 1910: 

'*In 1643 the four colonies, then known as Connecticut and 
New Haven, Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, New Hamp- 
shire and Maine, formed a Union styled 'The United Colonies 
of New England.' There were two commissioners from each 
colony and six votes were needed for valid action. Their actions 



170 Constitutional Government 



were restricted to affairs that were proper concomitants or con- 
sequents of a confederation. 

"In Indian affairs, war and peace, chiefly: General expenses 
to be assessed according to the population ; local affairs to be 
reserved to control of each colony. Provisions were also made 
for extradition of criminals and fugitive slaves. It exercised 
treaty powers with the French and Indians ; declared and waged 
war and decided territorial disputes between colonies. Nominally 
in force for fifty years, its effective life was only about twenty 
years. 

"Then, as now, the Union had to exercise inherent powers for 
the 'general welfare,' but each colony was paramount in its own 
strictly local affairs. 

"In 1697 Penn proposed an annual congress of two delegates 
from each colony to provide for the general welfare and to reg- 
ulate congress. 

"In 1754 Franklin's Albany plan for a Union of the colonies 
was proposed. 

_ "In 1765. through the efforts of James Otis, delegates from 
nine colonies met in New York to consider their general inter- 
ests and resist improper taxations by forming a union of col- 
onies. 

"In 1774 the first Continental Congress of the delegates of 
twelve colonies assembled. 

"In 1776 Thomas Payne, with matchless vigor, demanded a 
conference of all the Colonies, to form a continental charter, and 
to frame the noblest and purest Constitution on the face of the 
earth. 

"On July 4th, 1776, the Colonial Congress of the whole thir- 
teen colonies gave to mankind the noblest Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

"This was the act of the collective colonies, by their delegates, 
and was the act of 'one people,' as a whole, and not of thirteen 
individual colonies; it was the joint act of the entire people as 
one great body of heirs of English liberty. 

"That immortal act converted the crown colonies into inde- 
pendent states, under congressional government until the Articles 
of Confederation were ratified in 1778-1781." 

The American colonies boldly declared that all men are cre- 
ated equal ; that all have a natural right to liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness ; that human governments are instituted for the sole 
purpose of securing the welfare of the people; that the govern- 
ment of George III. had become destructive of liberty ; that an 
appeal to the sword is preferable to slavery, and that therefore 
the united colonies of America are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent States. 



Constitutional Government 171 



These men proved themselves the bold apostles and mar- 
tyrs of a new gospel that proclaimed human liberty, and brought 
forth a new dispensation establishing it upon the divine right of 
individual independence that was to take the place, in time, of the 
old dispensation of the divine right of kings. To gain and per- 
petuate the blessings of this new gospel, thousands of noble lives 
have been sacrificed upon the altar of liberty. Rich blood, warm 
with sympathy and devotion to the cause of human freedom, 
has been profusely shed, that future generations might live and 
rejoice in the light of a national constitution securing to each citi- 
zen life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

The Declaration of Independence was made by men who 
knew too well the terrors and injustice of the old despotic gov- 
ernments of Europe, hoary with vice and corruption. George 
Washington, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, 
Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, 
Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock and other leaders of the Rev- 
olution understood the inferiority, and utter unfitness for an 
enlightened people, of a monarchical or aristocratical form of 
government. They, with a divine inspiration, determined to rid 
forever and protect one portion of God's green earth from the 
tyrannical heel of the oppressor and the rule of a privileged class. 
They proposed to and did establish upon fresh soil a new 
empire of freedom — that had long lived in the imaginations of 
great and liberal minds in France and England — with liberty and 
human rights as its corner-stone. 



THE NEW government. 

The convention which made the Constitution of 1787 received 
its "charter" for that purpose by virtue of the following Resolu- 
tions of Congress, passed Feb. 21, 1787: 

"Whereas, There is provision, in the Articles of Confederation 
and Perpetual Union, for making alterations therein, by assent of 
a Congress of the United States and of the Legislatures of the 
several states ; and 

"Whereas, Experience hath evinced that there are defects in 
the present Confederation, as a means to remedy which, several 
of the States, and particularly the State of New York, by express 
instructions to their delegates in Congress, have suggested a Con- 
vention for the purposes expressed in the following resolution; 
and such Convention appearing to be the most probable means of 
establishing in these States firm, national government : 

"Resolved, That in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient 
that on the 2nd Monday in May next, a Convention of delegates 



172 Constitutional Government 



who shall have been appointed by the several States, be held at 
Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the 
Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the sev- 
eral legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein as shall, 
when agreed to in congress, and confirmed by the States, render 
the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of govern- 
ment and the preservation of the Union." At this important 
convention everyone used the word "National," "National Execu- 
tive," "National Legislature," "National Judiciary". The idea 
was to make a firm nation." 

Mr. Clayton says : "Let me speak of the pre-constitutional 
powers exercised under what may be called the 'unwritten Con- 
stitution, prior to the writing of 1787, re-stated by the written 
Constitution of 1787." 

From the first Colonial Congress of 1774, and under the Arti- 
cles of Association of October, 1774, until the Articles of Con- 
federation of 1778, "in the third year of the independence of 
America," the government of the United Colonies was purely a 
congressional parliamentary government. It was not until after 
July 4, 1776, that the several Colonies assumed to be and actually 
were organized "States" ; and it is to the prior de facto existence 
of that union of colonies that the states as "States" owe their 
existence. This was the view asserted in Lincoln's first inaugural 
address : 

"The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was 
formed in fact by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was 
matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 
1776. It was further matured, and the faith of the then thirteen 
States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpet- 
uated, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 
1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing 
the constitution was to Form a More; Perfect Union." Lin- 
coln's view is abundantly confirmed by the historical facts of the 
period involved. 

The patriotic and wise founders of a Great Representative 
Democracy held up before the admiring gaze of the whole world 
a constitution for the guidance, order, happiness and liberty of a 
rapidly increasing people, and then stepped aside, with their fam- 
ilies, and nobly left it for each generation to carry forward. This 
has been done for nearly a century and a half, and God grant 
that it may go on for a thousand. The superiority of this form of 
government over all others has been fully demonstrated during 
the past century, by the wonderful accomplishments and progress 
made in the United States under its fostering care. 

The Constitution of the United States, as handed down by its 
illustrious founders, the members of the Federal Convention, in 



Constitutional Government 173 



1787, was a wisely designed and powerful instrument, far in ad- 
vance of any former constitution. It had taken years to reach the 
perfection which it then possessed. Nevertheless, it still con- 
tained, unfortunately, several inconsistencies and contradictions, 
on account of the conflicting opinions of the delegates from the 
North and the South, and these eventually produced discord, and 
finally civil war. 

It was truly said by Mr. Gladstone before the civil war that 
"the United States Constitution was the most wonderful instru- 
ment ever struck off at a given time by the brain of man." It 
needed, however, the comprehensive genius and clear under- 
standing of Abraham Lincoln, the final victory of the Union over 
disunion, and the triumph of the freedom-loving people of Amer- 
ica to complete it. 

But the American Republic did not spring, fully developed, 
from the brains of its creators, like Minerva from the brow of 
Jove. It was, and will be, a creature of growth. First came 
the Continental Congress; second, the Declaration of Independ- 
ence; third, the Confederation of sovereign States, and fourth, 
the Constitution of the United States of America, with its full 
powers of government, suited to the demands of a Nation. 

After the civil war an amended constitution, really suitable 
for a free people was created. 

The original settlers in the American colonies from England 
derived the elements of civil and religious liberty from the insti- 
tutions of their mother country. 



Constitutional Government 175 



CHAPTER V. 

Events Leading to the Birth of a Nation ; or. The Federai, 
System in America — The Constitution — The Sover- 
eign Power. 

The first Colonial Congress assembled at New York, October 
7th, 1765. Nine colonies were represented by twenty-eight dele- 
gates. Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was chosen Presi- 
dent. A Declaration of Rights was adopted, protesting against 
taxation without representation. 

In September, 1774, the second Colonial or Continental Con- 
gress assembled in Philadelphia, twelve colonies being repre- 
sented. During this interval England continued her policy of 
oppression, and the colonies theirs of resistance. An appeal was 
sent to the King, and in 1776, the answer of George III. refusing 
it and treating the petitioners with contempt, was received. He 
refused to recognize the Continental Congress. He demanded 
submission and disbandment of the army. The Colonies, how- 
ever, with George Washington at the head of their forces, pre- 
pared to free themselves from the yoke of tyranny, or die in the 
attempt. July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was 
adopted, and the war continued until the surrender of Corn- 
wallis, October 19, 1781, the final treaty of peace being signed 
Sept. 3, 1783, by all the contending parties. 

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union for the 
government of the sovereign States were signed July 9, 1778, by 
the delegates of eight States. The same month Georgia and 
North Carolina affixed their signatures, and those of New Jersey 
and Delaware were added in February, while Maryland did not 
sign until March, 1781. This has been called "a loose union of 
Independent Commonwealths." Both the executive and legisla- 
tive powers were vested in Congress, composed of two to seven 
representatives from each state. It had only delegated powers 
given it by the States, which reserved the sovereign element of 
power to themselves. It could declare war and establish peace, 
regulate intercourse with foreign nations, coin money, settle dis- 
puted boundaries, and control the public domain. There was no 
provision made for a chief magistrate or judiciary. It was neces- 
sary to have the affirmative vote of nine States to adopt an act 



176 Constitutional Government 



of legislature. The first difficulty arising under this hastily con- 
structed government was the inability of Congress to levy and 
collect money to pay the Vvar debt of $38,000,000. There was 
confusion and instability in the new republic under the articles 
of confederation, which caused those who had gained liberty and 
a great country, much anxiety for its safety. In 1785 Gen. 
Washington and others advised a convention to be called to 
remodel it. Five states only met the first time, September, 1786, 
at Annapolis, in Maryland ; a report was drawn up and a further 
convention called the fvollowing year, which adjourned to meet in 
May, 1787, in Philadelphia, at which time all the States, except 
Rhode Island, were represented. Washington presided. Edmund 
Yates proposed to set aside the articles of confederation, and adopt 
a new constitution. This was done, and the new constitution, 
written by Gouverneur Morris was reported by the committee 
appointed to review the articles, and adopted September, 1787. 
It was ratified September 3, 1787, by Delaware; on the 13th 
by Pennsylvania; on the 19th by New Jersey; on January 2d 
by Georgia ; on the 7th by Connecticut ; on February 6th by 
Massachusetts ; on April 28th, 1788, by Maryland ; then by South 
Carolina; on June 21st by New Hampshire; on the 25th by Vir- 
ginia, after a bitter contest; on July 24th by New York; on No- 
vember 13, 1789, by North Carolina, and on May 29, 1790, little 
Rhode Island finally made up her mind to ratify it, and Vermont 
and Kentucky were added to it. (See Elliott's Debates, Phila- 
delphia, 1861.) In accordance with this constitution, George 
Washington was elected president, and took his seat in the execu- 
tive chair April 30, 1789. 

"When the United States constitution was formed, Virginia, 
Rhode Island, and New York expressly reserved the right, it is 
stated, to secede, when ratifying the constitution. The delegates 
in Virginia held that the power granted under the constitution, 
being derived from the people of the United States, may be re- 
sumed by them whenever the same shall be perverted to their in- 
jury or oppression, every power not granted thereby to remain 
with them at their wall." 

This, briefly stated, is the succession of events leading directly 
to the formation of the representative democracy of the United 
States on the alleged basis of liberty and equality. It was not, 
however, in reality a government of that nature until after the 
subsequent war to put down the rebellion, the freeing of the 
slaves, September 22, 1863, by proclamation of President 
Lincoln, and the extension to them of the right of suflfrage by 
the fifteenth amendment to the constitution. 

After passing through the careful hands of Alexander Hamil- 
ton, James Madison, John Jay, Benj. Franklin and Washington, 



Constihitional Government 177 



opposed and criticised by Jefferson and other anti-Federalists, 
and after a terrible civil war to preserve its supremacy, and the 
addition of the fifteenth amendment, ratified by three-fourths of 
the legislatures of the Federal states, including those amendments 
guaranteeing religious freedom abolishing slavery, and forbid- 
ding the abridgment of suffrage on account of race or color, the 
Constitution of the United States stands today as one of the most 
complete and masterly state documents the world has yet seen, 
for sustaining and directing a representative form of govern- 
ment. Its present conspicuous characteristic is its consistent dec- 
laration of equality, and its powerful support of individual inde- 
pendence. In these particulars it stands out boldly before the 
world, in striking contrast to the written and unwritten con- 
stitutions and state papers of other nationalities, under monarch- 
ical, aristocratic or mixed forms of government. The people liv- 
ing today under its benign influence should, and do, enjoy a 
freedom and happiness never known in any nation before. They 7 
are indebted, in a great measure, after the founders, to the heroes ' 
of the war to suppress the rebellion, and to Lincoln and other \ 
great statesmen of that eventful period, who maintained the j 
Union and the Constitution. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

It begins: "We, the People of the United States, in order 
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the gener?' 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America." This is a strong root of the grand century 
plant, placed on the American continent by the early fathers. It 
is not a contract between sovereign states, like the Constitution of 
the cantons of Switzerland, which are sovereign states when not 
limited by the federal constitution, dependent upon their individ- 
ual wills for its prosperity and the execution of its powers, but 
it is the fundamental law of the land, and a supreme constitu- 
tional sovereignty, the same as if it existed in the person of a 
never-dying constitutional monarch with strictly defined and lim- 
ited powers, but subject to a change of powers as provided for 
therein. 

But this sovereign, unlike those familiar to us in history, 
demands and enforces freedom and equality among his subjects. 
They are to elect all their representatives periodically, through 
their universal possession of the elective franchise, and the pow- 
ers of those representatives are limited and defined. The gov- 



178 Constitutional Government 



ernment is divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, 
executive and judicial. All the powers of the first are vested in 
a Congress of the United States, consisting of a Senate and a 
House of Representatives. The powers of the second are vested 
in a President of the United States of America, who shall hold 
his office during the term of four years, and is to enforce the 
laws of Congress in accordance with the constitution. He is 
also Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into 
the actual service of the United States. The powers of the 
third are vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior 
courts as Congress may from time to time ordain ,and estab- 
lish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, 
shall hold their office during good behavior, and shall at stated 
times receive for their services a compensation which shall not 
be diminished during their continuance in office. Full faith 
shall be given in all states to the records of every state; citizens 
of each state shall be entitled to the privileges of citizens in the 
several states ; new territories may be organized and new states 
admitted into the Union. 

"The division of the powers of government among the three 
departments, executive, legislative, and judicial, rests on the as- 
sumption that while no one of them is in itself sovereign and 
unlimited in authority, yet each is independent of the others." 
— McClain, page 55. 

"By the distribution of the powers of government among 
several branches, as provided for in the constitution, each of 
these branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial depart- 
ment of the government, becomes in its respective sphere the 
immediate and equal representative of the people as the direct 
source of its depositary of the sovereign power." — Duer on the 
Constitution, page 26. 

Therefore, in this collective body of three distinct depart- 
ments, all the rays of power of the citizens of the United States 
should be united and concentrated as in a centre, and form by that 
perfect union a consistency, splendor and power which should 
make it feared and respected by all foreign nations and poten- 
tates, and honored and obeyed by the people who voluntarily, 
for their general security, place themselves under its control. 
This supremacy and power cannot be successfully obtained 
under a confederacy of sovereign states. 

In all governments there must be a supreme and controlling 
power placed in some particular person, or assembly of persons 
chosen by the people, as in a republic, or hereditary as in a mon- 
archy from which central point can flow the commands, to do or 



Constitutional Government 179 



not to do certain things for or against the good of all under that 
government, or else there is no government. 

This supreme power the Federalists succeeded in placing, 
after much opposition, in the general government by the adoption 
of the constitution, and the Federalists for many years nobly 
defended that ideal constitution and the principles in it, en- 
dorsed so earnestly by Gen. Washington, Hamilton, Monroe and 
Madison. John C. Calhoun used the strength of his gifted in- 
tellect in defending, like Jefferson, the position of the anti-Fed- 
eralists. The idea of state sovereignty was held by the slave- 
holders of the South, as it gave into their hands the absolute con- 
trol of the states in which they lived. They could by this means 
create, practically, little principalities over which they could rule 
absolutely, and keep in perpetual subjugation the negroes and 
the poor whites, free from the interposition of the general 
government. They would soon have stood, if successful in their 
endeavors to change the constitution, toward a confederacy of 
states, the same as the dukedoms and principalities of Germany 
stood, under an elective monarchy, towards the Elector's govern- 
ment. Even now, if the control of each state were left in 
the hands of local politicians and a dominant party in the state, 
the liberty of citizens would soon be overridden, and a dictatorial 
and tyrannical home rule established, and the people would have 
no redress. 

In the sixth article and second clause of the Constitution, it 
says: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States 
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, 
or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, 
shall be the supreme law of the land: and the judges in every 
state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws 
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." The adoption 
of this clause, with the rest of the instrument, by the requisite 
number of states, and finallv by all the states, should have put an 
end to this controversy. Then an appeal to arms being taken 
and decided in favor of the same principle, that should havfe 
settled the matter forever. Anyone can see that when the su- 
preme power is placed in manv states, it would naturally be sub- 
ject to many wills; many wills, if disunited, drawing different 
ways, create weakness in government ; and to unite these several 
wills, and reduce them to one, is the work of more time and delay 
than the exigencies of state can afford. Therefore the supreme 
power to act should be centralized and placed in one central gov- 
ernment so that it may act independently and supremely. 



180 Constitutional Government 



DZ TOCQUEVILLE ON THE AMERICAN JUDICIARY. 

"The executive power of the federal or state government is 
necessarily vested in the executive department. Our system of 
government, however, does not recognize administrative law as 
superior to the civil law administered by the courts. Executive 
officers, even the highest, are subject to the law." — (McClain, 
who refers to A. V. Dickey, Law of the Constitution, Chapter V, 
VI; A. de Tocqueville, Democracy In America, Chapter V.) 

"The reasoning on which this exercise of power by the courts 
in the United States is based is the following: The law-making 
power of the federal or of a state government exercises only 
delegated authority, and it cannot transcend constitutional limi- 
tations imposed upon it; and therefore its acts, when without 
authority, or in violation of constitutional limitations, are invalid. 
If such a statute were to be regarded by the courts as a part of 
the law, binding upon them, then constitutional limitations, trans- 
gressed by such a statute, would be of no validity whatever." 

"In Great Britain no acts of Parliament regularly adopted can 
be said to be unconstitutional in the sense of being invalid and 
without legal effect. The real distinction, then consists in the 
fact that the government of Great Britain is regarded as pos- 
sessing sovereign power, while the federal and state governments 
of the United States possess only such powers as are generally 
or specifically delegated to them. 

"The imperial constitution of Germany contains a bill of rights, 
but the courts have no power to declare void an unconstitutional 
law." 

"The relation of the federal tribunal in Switzerland to the legis- 
lature is unlike that of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
for it is bound by an express provison of the constitution to apply 
every law passed by the federal assembly." (See Constitution, 
of Switzerland, Article 113, and A. Lawrence Lowell, Govern- 
ments in Continental Europe, Vol. 2, page 219.) 

It is often remarked that no one has explained the American 
commonwealth to itself so wisely as Mr. Bryce, an Englishman, 
has done, and it is likewise true that no one has given a more 
logical and discerning estimate of the working of democracy 
as example in the United States than the Frenchman, de Tocque- 
ville, in his "Democracy in America." The following passage 
is an example of his clear .statement of the functions of the vari- 
ous branches of the government." 

"The peace, the prosperity, the very existence of the Union are 
vested in the hands of the seven federal judges. Without them 
the constitution would be a dead letter. The executive appeals 
to them for assistance against the encroachments of the legisla- 



Constitutional Government 181 



tive power; the legislature demands their protection against the 
assaults of the executive. They defend the Union from the diso- 
bedience of the states, and the states from the exaggerated claims 
of the Union, the public interests against private interests and the 
conservative element of stability against the fickleness of the 
democracy. Their power is enormous, but it is the power of 
public opinion. They are all-powerful as long as the people re- 
spect the law; but they would be impotent against popular ne- 
glect or contempt of the law. The force of public opinion is 
the most intractable of agents, because its exact limits cannot 
be defined ; and it is not less dangerous to exceed, than to remain 
below the boundary prescribed. 

"The federal judges must not only be good citizens, and men 
of that information and integrity which are indispensable to all 
magistrates, but they must be statesmen, wise to discern the signs 
of the times, not afraid to brave the obstacles which can be sub- 
dued, nor slow to turn away from the current when it threatens 
to sweep them off, and the supremacy of the Union and the 
obedience due to the laws along with them." 

If the supreme court is to pass a final judgment on all acts 
of Congress it should do so after the President has signed the 
bills and before they become published as the laws of the land. 

"A clear understanding of the declared supremacy of the fed- 
eral government, and of the conclusiveness of the interpretation 
by the supreme court of the United States of the scope of these 
powers, will indicate that there is no possibility of any conflict 
between the federal government and the government of a state. 
If conflicting assertions of authority are to be reconciled by peace- 
ful and lawful means, rather than by the resort to violence, 
it must be by the recognition of ultimate authority somewhere to 
determine the controversy : and there can be no reasonable ques- 
tion as to the intention of the framers of the constitution that this 
ultimate solution would be furnished by the federal government, 
and that it should be binding upon all." (Emlin McClain, Con- 
stitutional Law in the United States.) 



CONSTITUENT AND LAW MAKING POWER. 

A. Lawrence Lowell, referring to de Tocqueville's definition 
of constitution, says : "He meant a perfectly definite thing to 
which nothing in England conformed." "He had in mind an- 
other meaning which is commonly attached to the term 'Consti- 
tution.' " It is that of an instrument of special sanctity, distinct 
in character from all other laws ; and alterable only by a peculiar 
process differing to a greater or less extent from ordinary forms 



182 Constitutional Government 



of legislation." Congress can pass an act and with the approval 
of the president becomes the law of the land, unless held un- 
constitutional by the Supreme Court, but Congress has no power 
to change constitutions. They can introduce a resolution to this 
effect but it must be passed by two-thirds of the states. This 
provision should be stipulated in every constitution in a represen- 
tative government. In nearly every constitutional government 
there is a different method for changing the constitution, and the 
change or inauguration of the laws. The constitution is general- 
ly held to be the supreme law of the land above all other laws. 
There is a separation of the constituent and law making powers. 
"The famous decision of Chief Justice Marshall, that "An act 
of Congress inconsistent with the Constitution of the United 
States must be treated as invalid," was a logical necessity. The 
Constitution was certainly intended to be a law, and as such it 
could be enforced by the courts. But if that law came into con- 
flict with another law, an act of Congress, for example, the 
courts must consider, as in other cases of conflict of laws, which 
law was of superior authority; and there could be no doubt that 
the Constitution was the superior of the two." (A. Lawrence 
Lowell, The Government of England, Vol. I, p. 6.) 



CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL S OPINION. 

The authority, therefore, given to the supreme court by the 
act establishing the judicial courts of the United States, to issue 
writs of viandajiius to public officers, appears not to be warranted 
by the constitution, and it becomes necessary to inquire whether 
a jurisdiction so conferred can be exercised. The question whe- 
ther an act repugnant to the constitution can become the law of 
the land is a question deeply interesting to the United States, 
but, happily, not of an intricacy proportioned to its interest. It 
seems only necessary to recognize certain principles supposed to 
have been long and well established to decide it. 

That the people have an original right to establish, for their 
future government, such principles as in their opinion shall most 
conduce to their own happiness, is the basis on which the whole 
American fabric has been erected. The exercise of this original 
right is a very great exertion ; nor can it, or ought it to be fre- 
quently repeated. The principles, therefore, so established are 
deemed fundamental ; and as the authority from which they pro- 
ceed is supreme and can seldom act, they are designed to be 
permanent. This original and supreme will organizes the govern- 
ment and assigns to the different departments their respective 



Constitutional Government 183 



powers. It may either stop here, or estabhsh certain hmits not 
to be transcended by those departments. 

The government of the United States is of the latter descrip- 
tion. The powers of the legislature are defined and limited, and, 
that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the constitu- 
tion is written. To what purpose are powers limited and to 
what purpose is that limitation committed to writing, if these lim- 
its may at any time be passed by those intended to be restrained? 
The distinction between a government with limited and unlimited 
powers is abolished if those limits do not confine the persons on 
whom they are imposed, and if acts prohibited and acts allowed 
are of edual obligation. It is a proposition too plain to be contest- 
ed that the constitution controls any legislative act repugnant to 
it. or that the legislature may alter the constitution by an ordinary 
act. 

Between these alternatives there is no middle ground. The 
constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable 
by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative 
acts and, like other acts, is alterable when the legislature shall 
please to alter it. 

If the former part of the alternative be true, then a legislative 
act contrary to the constitution is not law; if the latter part be 
true, then written constitutions are absurd attempts, on the part 
of the people, to limit a power in its own nature illimitable. Cer- 
tainly all of those who have framed written constitutions con- 
template them as forming the fundamental and paramount law 
of the nation, and consequently, the theory of every such govern- 
ment must be that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the con- 
stitution, is void. 

This theory is essentially attached to a written constitution, and 
is consequently to be considered, by this court, as one of the 
fundamental principles of our society. It is not, therefore, to 
be lost sight of in the further consideration of this subject. If 
an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void, 
does it, notwithstanding its invalidity, bind the courts, and oblige 
them to give it effect? Or, in other words, though it be not law, 
does it constitute a rule as operative as if it was a law? This 
would be to overthrow in fact what was established in theory; 
and would seem, at first view, an absurdity too gross to be insist- 
ed on. It shall, however, receive a more attentive consideration. 

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial de- 
partment to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to 
particular cases must of necessity expound and interpret that 
rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must de- 
cide on the operation of each. So if a law be in opposition to 



184 Constitutional Government 



the constitution; if both the law and the constitution apply to a 
particular case, so that the court must either decide that case con- 
formably to the law, disregarding the constitution, or conform- 
ably to the constitution, disregarding the law, the court must de- 
termine which of these conflicting rules governs the case. This 
is of the very essence of judicial duty. 

If, then, the courts are to regard the constitution, and the con- 
stitution is superior to any ordinary act of the legislature, the 
constitution, and not such ordinary act, must govern the case to 
which they both apply. Those, then, who controvert the prin- 
ciple that the constitution is to be considered, in court, as a 
paramount law, are reduced to the necessity of maintaining that 
courts must close their eyes on the constitution, and see only the 
law. 

This doctrine would subvert the very foundation of all written 
constitutions. It would declare that an act which, according to 
the principles and theory of our government, is entirely void, is 
yet, in practice, completely obligatory. It would declare that if 
the legislature shall do what is expressly forbidden, such act, 
notwithstanding the express prohibition, is in reality effectual. 
It would be giving to the legislature a practical and real omnip- 
otence, with the same breath which professes to restrict their 
powers within narrow limits. It is prescribing limits, and de- 
claring that those limits may be passed at pleasure. 

That it thus reduces to nothing what we have deemed the 
greatest improvement on political institutions, a written constitu- 
tion, would of itself be sufficient, in America, where written con- 
stitutions have been viewed with so much reverence, for reject- 
ing the construction. But the peculiar expressions of the consti- 
tution of the United States furnish additional arguments in 
favor of its rejection. 

The judicial power of the United States is extended to all 
cases arising under the constitution. Could it be the intention of 
those who gave this power, to say that in using it the constitution 
should not be looked into ? That a case arising under the consti- 
tution should be decided without examining the instrument under 
which it arises? This is too extravagant to be maintained. In 
some cases, then, the constitution must be looked into by the 
judges. And if they can open it at all, what part of it are they 
forbidden to read or to obey ? 

There are many other parts of the constitution which serve to 
illustrate this subject. It is declared that "no tax or duty shall 
be laid on articles exported from any state." Suppose a duty on 
the export of cotton, of tol^iacco, or of flour; and a suit instituted 
to recover it. Ought judgment to be rendered in such a case? 



Constitutional Government 185 



Ought the judges to close their eyes on the constitution, and only 
see the law ? 

The constitution declares, that "no bill of attainder or ex 
post facto law shall be passed." If, however, such a bill should 
be passed, and a person should be prosecuted under it, must the 
court condemn to death those victims whom the constitution en- 
deavors to preserve? 

"No person," says the constitution, "shall be convicted 
of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same 
overt act, or on confession in open court." Here the language 
of the constitution is addressed especially to the courts. It pre- 
scribes, directly for them, a rule of evidence not to be departed 
from. If the legislature should change that rule, and declare 
one witness, or a confession out of court, sufficient for conviction, 
must the constitutional principle yield to the legislative act? 

From these, and many other selections which might be made, 
it is apparent that the framers of the constitution contemplated 
that instrument as a rule for the government of courts as well as 
of the legislature. Why otherwise does it direct the judges to 
take an oath to support it? This oath certainly applies in an 
especial manner to their conduct in their official character. How 
immoral to impose it on them if they were to be used as the in- 
struments, and the knowing instruments, for violating what they 
swear to support ! 

The oath of office, too, imposed by the legislature, is complete- 
ly demonstrative of the legislative opinion on this subject. It is 
in these words : "I do solemnly swear that I will administer 
justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the 
poor and to the rich; and that I will faithfully and impartially 

discharge all the duties incumbent on me as , according 

to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the 
constitution and laws of the United States." 

Why does a judge swear to discharge his duties agreeably to 
the constitution of the United States if that constitution forms 
no rule for his government — if it is closed upon him, and cannot 
be inspected by him? If such be the real state of things, this is 
worse than solemn mockery. To prescribe or to take this oath 
becomes equally a crime. 

It is also not entirely unworthy of observation that in declar- 
ing what shall be the supreme law of the land the constitution it- 
self is first mentioned; and not the laws of the United States gen- 
erally, but those only which shall be made in pursuance of the 
constitution, have that rank. Thus, the particular phraseology 
of the constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens 
the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitu- 



186 Constitutional Government 



tions, that a law repugnant to the constitution is void ; and that 
courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instru- 
ment. (Marbery vs. Madison, i Crouch 137, Dec. 1803.) 



LINCOLN AND THE DRED SCOTT DECISION. 

A close study of the speeches of Abraham Lincoln, during 
his contest with Judge Douglas in 1858, will show that he criti- 
cised the Dred Scott Decision as severely as Roosevelt has some 
of the decisions of the Supreme Court today in the Standard Oil 
and Tobacco Trust cases. He was not afraid to arraign Chief 
Justice Taney before the bar of public opinion. 

He said : "I now repeat my opposition to the Dred Scott De- 
cision — 'If I were in Congress and a vote should come up on a 
question whether slavery should be prohibited in a new ter- 
ritory, in spite of the Dred Scott Decision, I would vote that it 
should.' " 

"The sacredness that Judge Douglas threw around this deci- 
sion, is a degree of sacredness that has never been thrown be- 
fore around any other decision". 

"A National Bank was declared unconstitutional — then Gen- 
eral Jackson (who was president) said that 'the Supreme Court 
had no right to lay down a rule to govern a co-ordinate branch 
of the government, the members of which had sworn to support 
the Constitution, — that each member had sworn to support the 
Constitution as he understood it.' " 

"We think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We know the 
court that made it has often over-ruled its own decisions, and 
we shall do what we can to have it overrule this". "We offer no 
resistance to it". 

"Chief Justice Taney insists that negroes were no part of the 
people who made, or for whom was made the Declaration of In- 
dependence, of the Constitution of the United States. On the 
contrary. Judge Curtis, in his dissenting opinion, shows that in 
five of the then thirteen states free negroes were voters." 

The election of Lincoln, for whom I voted, was a protest 
against the Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case. The 
result was that slavery was never extended into the territories, 
and this decision was annulled by the will of the majority, car- 
ried out through Abraham Lincoln in the war for the Union 
against the secessionists. 

Later the Constitution itself was changed after a great Civil 
War, and negroes were given the right of suffrage and given 
the liberty of moving about anywhere in the United States. 



Constitutional Government 187 



The people will continue to express and carry out their will in 
reference to all issues that affect their interests. Neither 
Canadian nor English courts can set aside legislative acts. 

Some say the people are not competent to rule themselves in 
the United States through the right of universal suffrage, or be 
trusted with a referendum, but it so happens that the people now 
have universal suffrage and who is going to take it from them? 
They are sovereign and will fight for the rights they now possess 
and hold them as firmly as those who have vast estates will hold 
them. 

The people will continue to express their will in reference to 
all present and future questions that affect them. The trusts and 
the high tariff for special interests will be met by them in one 
way or another and their purpose will not be thwarted by courts 
or legislative bodies which misrepresent them. 

The right of the extension of slavery into the territories of 
the United States and other questions relating to this incident 
should have been submitted by the referendum to the citizens of 
the entire country, who alone possess the sovereign power. If 
they had decided in the negative that would have settled the case 
and prevented the civil war. This would have been the method 
used in Switzerland, where the referendum and initiative are in- 
stitutions which are considered the powerful weapons of democ- 
racy. 

A mere majority of the judges of the Supreme court should 
not have the rig'it to take away or nullify the sovereign power of 
the people expressed through congress, as was attempted in the 
Dred Scott decision. 

The entire question of high tariff and the right of powerful 
trusts to combine and destroy competition and override the will 
of the people should now be submitted to the citizens of the 
United States by referendum. 



THE "grandfather CLAUSE" — LITERARY DIGEST, JULY 3, 1915. 

Despite the fact that the Supreme Court decisions in the Okla- 
homa and Maryland "grandfather-clause" cases are declared by 
the New York Evening Post (Ind.) to "mean as much forward 
as the Dred Scott case did backward," and are generally regarded 
as an epochal victory for the colored citizen, we are reminded 
by more than one paper that they do not actually give the vote 
to one negro who does not possess it already. What they do, 
however, is to strike at discrimination in certain Southern States 
by taking away the franchise from illiterate whites who have 



188 Constitutional Government 



hitherto been exempted from educational or property tests to 
which all negro voters had to submit. The Fifteenth Amend- 
ment of the Constitution of the United States provides that "the 
right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on ac- 
count of race, color or previous condition or servitude," and the 
so-called "grandfather clause" is one of many devices resorted to 
by Southern States to evade this law. The plan, in a nutshell, 
is to permit a special exemption from property or literacy tests 
to descendants of persons who could vote before the Fifteenth 
Amendment was adopted. The unanimous opinion of the Su- 
preme Court, handed down by Chief Justice White, himself a 
Southerner and a veteran of the Confederate Army, now de- 
clares this device unconstitutional because it "recreated the very 
conditions which the Fifteenth Amendment was intended to de- 
stroy." In full agreement with Chief Justice White were two 
other Southerners — Justice Lamar and Justice McReynolds. 

"Those States which now have this 'grandfather clause' in 
their constitutions or their laws must either enforce the literacy 
test against whites as vv'ell as negroes, or broaden their voting 
qualifications," notes the New York Herald (Ind.). But the 
New York Sun (Ind.) assures its readers that "the political hue 
of the South will remain white," and that this decision "will 
not deliver any State government to the negro race." "It is con- 
ceivable," the same paper adds, "that in some communities the 
exclusion of black men's votes will be less complete in conse- 
quence of the decision, but the practical effect will be of no 
moment." The New York Times (Ind. Dem.) recalls how negro 
rule in a section of North Carolina was overturned by a white 
mob in a riot in which twelve negroes and three white men were 
shot. "Order and the white man," it adds, "have reigned in 
North Carolina ever since." 

"This incident, the last of the kind which was of any great 
importance, is referred to here to show how persistent is the 
legacy of crime and violence left by the misguided 'statesman' of 
reconstruction. The white man will rule his land. The only 
question left by the Supreme Court's decision is how he will 
rule it." 

Even so old and loyal a champion of the negro as the New 
York Evening Post expresses "sympathy with the South in the 
efiForts it will now have to make to adjust itself to the new con- 
ditions," but it holds that "if we are in peril from an ignorant 
vote, the remedy is not to suppress it, but to be just and fair 
to it and to educate it," so that "a mighty impulse to the already 
powerful movement for better common-school education in the 
South ought to follow the Supreme Court decision." 



Constitutional Government 189 



Turning to the Southern press, we find very little excitement. 
Thus the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (Dem.) remarks that the 
Supreme Court could not have arrived at any other conclusion 
"unless prepared to set aside the Fifteenth Amendment" ; while 
the Richmond Netvs Leader (Dem.), after admitting that the 
decision "may be a temporary embarrassment," adds : 

"It will certainl}^ be a permanent benefit in that it shows the 
line a State may follow in restricting its franchise. The future 
of the ballot in the South is made plainer." 

Says another Richmond paper, The Times-Despatch (Dem.) : 

"The clause, in the main, was a concession to the illiterate 
w'hite voter, and to that extent placed a premium on ignorance. 
It may be that Southern States will have to abolish that premium, 
by which outcome of the long litigation they should not now be 
moved to special anguish. 

"The old-style 'grandfather clauses' have served their purpose 
— necessary in their day, but no longer vital to the South's pro- 
tection. It is just as well they are to pass." 

The Baltimore Ncivs (Ind.) criticizes Oklahoma and ]\Iary- 
land, "States in w'hich there is no serious negro-problem," for 
"stirring up once more the quarrel over negro suffrage in the 
South." Summing up in the Oklahoma case. Chief Justice White 
said, in part : 

"There seems no escape from the conclusion that to hold 
that there was even possibility for dispute on the subject would 
be but to declare that the Fifteenth Amendment not only had 
not the self-executing power which it has been recognized to 
have from the beginning, but that its provisions were wholly 
inoperative because susceptible of being rendered inapplicable 
by mere forms of expression embodying no exercise of judgment 
and resting upon no discernible reason other than the purpose 
to disregard the prohibitions of the Amendment by creating 
a standard of voting which on its face was in substance but a 
revitalization of the conditions which, when they prevailed 
in the past, had been destroyed by the self-operative force of the 
Amendment. 

"We are unable to discover how, unless the prohibitions of the 
Fifteenth Amendment w^ere considered, the slightest reason was 
afforded for basing the classification upon a period of time prior 
to the Fifteenth Amendment." 



VISCOUNT JAMES BRYCE ON THE UNITED STATES CABINET. 

The Hon. James Bryce says : that. 

In the government of the United States there is no such 



190 Constitutional Government 

thing as a cabinet in the English sense of the term. He calls 
attention to the remarkable difference which exists between the 
great officers of state in America and the similar officers in the 
free states of Europe." 

There could be no harm in giving the members of the cabinet 
seats of the House or the Senate, and permitting them to parti- 
cipate in the debates in Congress so that they could give their 
opinions direct in either house on questions relating to their 
several departments. 

In most constitutional governments in Europe, if the min- 
istry is in conflict with the popular branch of the legislative de- 
partment it resigns and a new ministry is chosen, or the house 
dissolves and another election is held. This enables the will of 
the people to be carried out. It surely is more expedient to 
change the ministry than to wait for a regular election of a pres- 
ident who chooses his cabinet, when the new administration is 
expected to carry out the popular demand expressed by his elec- 
tion. 

As I have already observed, we in Great Britain, are in reality 
far more of a democracy than you are. The will of the people 
declared in an election of the members of the House of Com- 
mons, is able to act more quickly, more promptly, with a more 
tremendous and compelling force in Britain than it can be here. 

I have another and a far brighter vision before my gaze. It 
may be but a vision, but I will cherish it. I see one vast confed- 
eration, stretching from the frozen North in unbroken line to the 
glowing South, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic west- 
ward to the calmer waters of the Pacific main ; and I see one 
people and one language and one face, and one law used over 
all that wide continent, the home of freedom, and a refuge for 
the oppressed in every race and in every clime. 

He says : "The separation of the legislative and executive 
departments has been carried too far by the custom which does 
not allow the ministers of the president access to the floors of 
Congress to speak and to be interrogated there. It is not a part 
of the constitution, and Congress has therefore the power at 
any time to alter it if it should think fit." 

Switzerland, like you, does not permit the members of the ad- 
ministration, which there consists of a body of seven persons 
called the Federal Council, to be elected to and sit in either 
house of its federal legislature ; but it permits them and en- 
courages them to be present in either house, and when I have 
attended the debates of the federal legislature in Switzerland, 
I have seen the members of the Federal Council, sometimes in 
one house and sometimes in the other interrogating and answer- 
ing questions." 



Constitutional Government 191 



The Swiss government, take it all in all, seems to be the most 
successful and one of the most stable among the democratic 
governments of the world and could not possibly work as smooth- 
ly and as successfully as it does work, but for this practice. The 
plan of admitting cabinet ministers to speak in Congress has been 
recommended by many of your own statesman, as for instance, by 
President Garfield." 

"Any proposal for the admission of cabinet ministers to the 
floor of either House, to be questioned there and to speak there, 
well deserves to be considered as a possible improvement in the 
conduct of business by Congress. Our English system — what we 
call our cabinet and parliamentary system — is no doubt far more 
prompt, in a far more effective way of bringing the will of the 
people to bear upon the government than your system here." 

"Congress cannot exercise any power not granted to it by 
express grant or reasonably implied from the powers which are 
granted." — (McClain, who refers to T. M. Cooley, Constitutional 
Law, Chapter VI, Paragraph 15.) 

BRITISH SYSTEM NOT PRACTICAL HERE — LANE. 

A press dispatch says : Replying to American exponents of 
the British system of giving cabinet officers seats in congress, 
Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the interior department said that 
in his estimation the scheme was neither "practicable nor advis- 
able." 

"Speaking for myself," said Secretary Lane, "I would not 
have the time to use my seat in congress if I had one. Cabinet 
positions in America are purely administrative positions as op- 
posed to those in England, where the supervision of the various 
departments is mostly carried on by under-secretaries. 

"As the situation is now, we cabinet officers have all the op- 
portunity desired to make clear our ideas and wishes to congress. 
In the first place, the recommendations in our annual reports 
state our positions to congress as clearly and forcibly as we 
could state them if we addressed the members from the floor 
of the chamber ; in the second place, we have ample opportunity to 
appear before the congressional committees and speak on any 
measure within our province. 

"In addition to that, all bills concerning our respective depart- 
ments are submitted to us as soon as introduced for the purpose 
of getting our opinions on them. During the last session of con- 
gress I wrote reports on 3,000 bills thus submitted. You can 
realize that I would have hardly had time to make three thousand 
speeches for or against them. 



192 Constitutional Government 



"Looking at the proposition from the point of view of the 
congressmen and senators themselves, I do not beheve they 
would favor the plan. I believe that the distinction between ad- 
ministration and legislation, as now recognized, is what they 
would continue to favor and insist upon." 



THE POWER OF THE EXECUTIVE. 

The President must act within the jurisdiction of the executive 
department of the government. He has the initiative, for through 
him, measures of importance are brought before Congress in 
his messages, and when the party he represents is in the major- 
ity in both houses these bills are generally passed. He cannot, 
however, encroach upon the legislative or judicial branches of the 
government beyond his delegated powers. The President can be 
impeached and removed from ofifice as provided for in the con- 
stitution. Under the recall, if adopted, the people would have the 
power to remove the President if he violated the powers granted 
him by the constitution, or for any other good reason, and could 
choose another president. In this case, the president should 
be elected for eight years instead of six or four, and limited to 
one term. This would prevent a repetition of the experience 
of Rome under the consuls and P'rance under Napoleon HI., or 
the United States under the administration of Andrew Johnson. 

The president is at the head of the military forces ; he rep- 
resents the national government in its relation to foreign govern- 
ments : he participates in legislation by exercising the power 
of approving or vetoing bills passed by Congress and he is vested 
with the power of pardon. — (Constitution, Art. H.) 

"Going back to the founders of the constitution, Jefferson held 
that "the constitution gave too much power to the president 
and endangered the rights of the states. Hamilton considered 
the constitution not sufficiently strong and effective and that it 
should be construed and administered in such a manner as would 
increase the power of the president." There existed much per- 
sonal antagonism between these two members of Washington's 
cabinet, but he held a high opinion of both men." 



THE REFERENDUM. 

A. Lawrence Lowell states in his work on Governments of 
Europe, page 248, that "the Referendum has acted like oil 
upon the troubled waters for the last twenty-five or thirty 
years in Switzerland and that the course of politics in the can- 



Constitutional Government 193 



tons has been much smoother than it was before: and although 
this result was by no means always coincident with the adoption 
of the referendum and must be attributed to the attainment of 
skill in the art of self-government on a large scale, it is also due 
in a part to the fact that the referendum, by putting an end to 
doubts about the real opinions of the majority upon disputed 
questions, has removed at once a mass of agitation and a source of 
discontent." 

McClain, on Referendum, page lo and ii says: "These meth- 
ods of securing or determining upon specific legislation have been 
for a long time known and applied in Switzerland and recently, 
by constitutional provisions in South Dakota (1898) and in 
Oregon (1902). 

"It is still open to discussion, notwithstanding the attempts to 
introduce the initiative and referendum, whether the exercise of 
the powers of government by the people through the electoral 
body is not in violation of the provision of the federal constitu- 
tion (Article IV., Section IV.) that each state shall have a 
republican form of government, for it may well be contended 
that a republican form of government necessarily involves the 
exercise of the powers of government by representative officers 
and bodies, and the distribution of the powers of the government 
among distinct and independent departments." 

"It may be suggested that such a radical change in our theory 
of government is of doubtful expediency and to be considered in 
all its bearings and with a view to all its possible consequences 
before it should be accepted." 

"In all the states except Louisiana, the common law system, 
that is, the English system of law, is recognized as in force, so 
far as consistent with the institutions and conditions under which 
we live ; while in that state the prevailing system of law is that 
known as the civil law, as embodied in the code of Napoleon, 
which was in force in France at the time the Louisiana ter- 
ritory was acquired by the United States." — T McClain, page 253.) 

All the laws, this code, and the statutes of the different states, 
and of the federal government, should be regulated and made 
general and harmonize throughout the entire domain dominated 
by the United States government. 



THE CIVIL CODE IN SWITZERLAND. 

The Swiss nation, through the means of a referendum, adopted 
the principle of unification of all cantonal legal svstems, civil 
and criminal, in a set of federal codes, enacted in 1898. 

"Through more than a decade the task has been in progress, 



194 Constitutional Government 



drafts being prepared by experts and submitted from time to 
time for criticism to a special commission and to public opin- 
ion. Early in 1908, the assembly adopted an elaborate civil code 
which in this way had been worked out. In January, 1912, 
this monumental body of law was put in operation. By it many 
long-established practices within the individual cantons were 
abolished or modified; but the humane and progressive char- 
acter of the code won for it such a measure of public approval 
that there was not even demanded that the instrument be sub- 
mitted to a referendum," — ("The Governments of Europe," by 
Frederic Austin Ogg.) 



STABIIvITY OF OUR CONSTITUTION. 

The constitution of the United States stands today a strong 
and consistent charter of national rights suited to the require- 
ments of a great and enlightened representative government. 

One prominent fact has been demonstrated by the civil war, 
which is : that a nation composed of a group of states, held 
together by a constitution under a representative republican 
form of government, is able to maintain and did maintain its 
integrity and perpetuity, through the greatest civil war known 
to history. Abraham Lincoln said in his message to Con- 
gress, July 4, 1861 : "This issue embraces more than the 
fate of the United States. It presents to the whole family of 
man the question, whether a constitutional republic or democ- 
racy, — a government of the people, by the same people — can or 
cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic 
foes. It presents the question whether discontented individuals, 
too few in number to control the administration according to or- 
ganic law in any case, can always, upon the pretense made in 
this case, or any other pretense, or arbitrarily without any pre- 
tense, break up their government, and thus practically put an 
end to free government unon the earth. It forces us to 
ask: 'Is there, in all republics, this inherent and fatal weak- 
ness? Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for 
the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its 
own existence?'" Every step taken by Lincoln and Congress"^ 
was strictly constitutional, including the Emancipation Procla- 
mation as a war measure, and the order revoking the writ of 
habeas corpus in the Vallandigham and other cases. Also the 
insistent denial of the right of the states to secede. 

Abraham Lincoln, like William H. Seward. Edwin M. Stan- 
ton. Salmon P. Chase. Lyman Trumbull, and many other promi- 
nent Unionists, both in and out of office, desired to change the 



Constitutional Government 195 



constitution so that it would be consistent throughout, and not 
only make the declarations contained in the premable consistent, 
but to enforce the principles contained in it practically by doing 
away with slavery. 

This was finally accomplished as a result of the victory of 
the Unionists over the Secessionists, which preserved the integ- 
rity of the Union. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
Amendments were added to the constitution finally, and ratified 
by a sufficient number of the states. To accomplish this, how- 
ever, cost the country several billion dollars in money and prop- 
erty, and several hundred thousand lives of American citizens, 
both North and South, in a bloody and fratricidal war. 



Washington's fareweliv address. 

Washington in his farewell address urged the "perpetuity of 
the union of the government, a main pillar in the edifice of real 
independence, the support of tranquility at home, peace abroad, 
safety, prosperity and liberty." He tells his own and all future 
generations living after him under this government : "Interwoven 
as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no 
recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the 
attachment. The unity of government, which constitutes you 
one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is 
a main pillar in the real edifice of your independence — the sup- 
port of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your 
safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so 
much prize." 

"The basis of our political system is the right of the people 
to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But 
the constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an 
explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly oblig- 
atory upon all. The very idea of the power and the rights of 
the people to establish government, pre-supposes the duty of 
every individual to obey the established government." 

Upon these fundamental principles, and others not enu- 
merated, contained in the constitution as it now exists with its 
recent amendments rests this structure of national independence, 
order and grandeur. 

The three departments, then, of this representative democ- 
racy are, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The 
first and last are far more limited than the second, which is 
given an almost unlimited power, being able to control the 
laws, institutions, and public policy of the country in all mat- 
ters coming within the range of subjects entrusted to its care. 



196 Constitutional Government 



The powers of the executive are strictly marked and defined, 
while the judicial powers are limited to the administration of 
private and public justice. Yet, although the legislative power 
is thus less limited, it is more directly moved and governed by 
the people, and is continually changing in its membership. It 
is connected by strong ties to every section of the country, and 
interested in every quarter, and therefore it is a safe depository 
of the aggregate power of the government." 

Having considered some of the grand principles which are 
contained in our constitution, and contrasted them with the prin- 
ciples of other governments less favorable to liberty, every one 
must admit the vast superiority of our representative democracy, 
or republic, as often called, over a monarchy, hereditary or elec- 
tive, or absolute, or an aristocracy, or oligarchy, or a mixture 
of the three principle forms of government. 

Of course there are defects, for human governments cannot 
yet be made perfect, but with the recent amendments to our 
constitution some of the alleged errors have been eliminated, 
and we glory in a government which grants to all equal rights 
and privileges; and in our petitions to the Almighty Giver of 
all bounties, we should pray that He preserve to us, and to future 
generations, a national government blessed with such exalted and 
beneficial principles, until He shall establish His perfect govern- 
ment upon the earth ! 



Constitutional Government 197 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE NATION AND THE STATE. 



In referring to the early patriots who formed the constitu- 
tion, Frederick Howe says in his book, "Privilege and Democ- 
racy," that "America is ruled by the political ideas of our grand- 
fathers. The Temple of Delphi was scarcely more sacred to the 
ancient Greeks than the Federal Constitution is to us. Criticism 
is almost sacrilege. Yet a recent examination of the circum- 
stances surrounding its adoption shows that the federal consti- 
tution was not intended to be a democratic instrument. It was 
not designed that the people should rule." 

"The reactionary spirits who had taken part in the revolution 
obtained control of the constitutional convention and impressed 
their will upon that body ; and, as later interpreted by the 
courts, the constitution has become even more reactionary than 
its language imports or its makers designed. It was this ven- 
eration for perpetrated wrong that continued negro slavery far 
into the nineteenth century." 

It was undoutedly this which prompted Article VIII, Section 
VIII in the Constitution, which says : "No person held to serv- 
ice or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into 
another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein, 
be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be 
due." This clause was in direct conflict with the preamble of 
the constitution which states that : 

"We, the People of the United States, in order to form a 
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, 
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, 
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, 
do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of 
America." 

Nothing could have been more certain to disturb the domes- 
tic tranquility of the country than Article VIIT, Section VIII, the 
antithesis of the preamble. Lincoln was determined to remedy 
this defect forever. He designed to restore to the South the 
rule of the leading social and political classes, and he also divined 
as they had the undoubted right to, that they would restore slav- 
ery. So he was determined to have constitutional amendments, 



198 Constitutional Government 



which would correct this and abolish slavery forever. His ad- 
ministration was, by its action, pledged and when the amend- 
ment to abolish slavery was being considered in Congress and 
two votes of the requisite number of the lower house were 
needed, he showed his firm decision to remedy such a defect in 
the constitution. "At that critical juncture, the imperious and 
arbitrary will of Abraham Lincoln," says Mr. Whitney, in his 
"Life of Lincoln," page 124, "was made manifest. "He was 
bound that that measure should be passed at all hazards, and he 
sent for two members of Congress, representing the two divis- 
ions of political sentiment, and said to them impressively and 
emphatically, 'I am President of the United States and possessed 
of great power, and that measure must pass,' and it was done." 

The undemocratic, tyrannical, and despotic clause above re- 
ferred to in a constitution drawn for a republic claiming to se- 
cure the blessings of liberty, was finally superseded by the Thir- 
teenth Amendment, which says that: "neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof 
a party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the 
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." 



LIMITATIONS OF THE POWERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 

The result of the limitation of powers granted the United 
States government is, that it is in a great measure prevented 
from exercising jurisdiction over many sections of the country 
except under limited power. The great territories obtained 
from Mexico and through the Louisiana purchase were divided 
into states and then handed over to independent state govern- 
ments. The United States afterwards, as nominally a sovereign 
nation, surrendered in a measure its control over these states. 
The result has been that in the states of the South, West and 
Northwest, there are large sections of country entirely out of 
the direct control of any well-organized local government, for 
some of these districts are not capable of organizing a govern- 
ment with their scattered population competent to govern as 
well as the more mature and well-regulated federal government, 
or older states. 

The state passes its authority in many cases over to counties 
and towns, some of which do not contain citizens capable of 
running a good local government. Therefore, some of these 
districts are often neglected and have inefficient educational 
facilities or insufficient police protection. "The police power lies 
within the great body of powers reserved to the states and not 



Constitutional Government 199 



conferred upon the federal government." Therefore, the federal 
government cannot interfere. 

Great mining companies and railroad corporations, occupying 
or traversing these outlying districts, sometimes override all 
opposition or by corrupting local officials, assume a dictatorial 
power and govern the locality to suit themselves. 

In case of riots, strikes, the unlawful authority exercised by 
large mine-owners in isolated districts, or the unlawful com- 
binations of employees, where the state or county offi- 
cials do not or cannot maintain order expeditiously and efficiently, 
then this anarchy and usurpation of authority should be regu- 
lated by the federal government immediately and directly, re- 
gardless of state rights. 

The people of a city, a town, a county, or a state in outlying 
districts such as the Cumberland, the Blue Ridge and other 
sparsely inhabited mountainous regions or vast tracts of sparsely 
occupied country in the far West or South, if not protected suffi- 
ciently by the local government, should be given all necessary 
relief at once by the central government. All barriers of state 
rights, which would ordinarily interfere with the action of the 
federal government in such a case should be removed through 
a constitutional amendment, covering such cases. This power, 
however, is not granted now to the general government under 
the constitution except in a limited degree, but retained by the 
states. Consequently if anyone of the states or counties falls into 
the hands of corrupt or inefficient officials, the people have no 
immediate remedy. 

Vast tracts of rich alluvial lands were given to the state of 
Louisiana by the government for educational purposes, which 
were recklessly given away for a mere trifle, some at twelve and 
one-half cents per acre, instead of being retained by the state, 
and sold at a fair price, or reclaimed, thus obtaining a large 
fund, which could be used for the education and betterment of 
the entire people in the state or given partly to liberated negroes. 



MORMONISM GETS A JOI.T AT CAPITAL. 

Mormonism was denounced at Indianapolis as a peril to the 
nation. Senator Frank J. Cannon of Utah addressed an audi- 
ence in the Meridian street M. E. church as a part of the national 
movement directed against the Mormon church. Cannon, who 
is himself a Mormon, declared that "if the United States does 
not do something to the Mormon kingdom, then the Mormon 
kingdom is going to do something to the United States." 

The polygamous life of the Mormons drew a bitter denuncia- 



200 Constitutional Government 



tion from Senator Cannon. He said it was the basis of their re- 
hgion. 

He said that the Mormons were deahng in "big business" and 
that their political power was the greatest menace to the nation. 
"Fifty-two years ago Abraham Lincoln tried to break the grow- 
ing power of the Mormon church, but he died before much had 
been accomplished. Today the Mormons are ten times stronger." 

He said the nation did not attack religious liberty but desired 
the church to live up to the treaty made between it and the nation. 

When Utah was a territory the federal government passed a 
law prohibiting polygamy, but now that it is a state the United 
States government loses its control. 

The Mormons were isolated for years in a vast territory where 
they gained absolute control, and built up a government within 
a shadow of a government on American soil, entirely out of 
harmony with our institutions. They transplanted the polyg- 
amous practices of an ancient Asiatic barbarism to the virgin soil 
of the western continent. The power thus accumulated without 
sufficient opposition has grown to gigantic proportions, and now 
stretches through many of the western states, preventing those 
states from being occupied by those who are in accord with the 
civilization of the eastern states. The United States govern- 
ment, as the supreme power over the United States, should have 
a system of control, which it is denied by the express terms of 
the constitution, as well as by the state constitutions. 

There often come to the front little local despots, who forget 
or defy any existing local inefficient government, and attempt 
to rule over large sections of country backed by their hench- 
men. Without any restraint from any higher supreme govern- 
ment they dominate a wide domain without interference. This 
is all detrimental to individual liberty. 

There are instances where the general government does in- 
terfere in cases affecting interstate commerce ; but the limita- 
tions are too great to enable it to act in many other cases. 



STATE AND NATIONAL CONTROL. 

McClain, in "Constitutional Law of the United States," 
states in paragraph 19 that : although, as compared with 
state government, the federal government is one of limited 
and enumerated powers, it does not follow that it is in any 
way inferior or subordinate to a state government. On the 
other hand, its very nature and the purpose for which it 
was created indicates that in the exercise of the powers granted, 
either expressly or by implication, it must be supreme. In 



Constitutional Government 201 



expounding Article 6, paragraph 2 of the federal constitution 
above quoted, it has been said: "If any one proposition could 
command the universal assent of mankind, we might expect 
it would be this : that the government of the Union, though 
limited in its power, is supreme within its sphere of action. 
This would seem to result necessarily from its nature. It is 
a government of all, its powers are delegated by all; it repre- 
sents all, and acts for all. Though any one state be willing 
to control its operation, no state is willing to allow others to 
control it. The nation, on those subjects on which it can act, 
must necessarily bind its component parts." (Marshall, Ch. J., 
in McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheaton, 316, 405). One of the 
functions of the federal judiciary, one department of the federal 
government, is to determine ultimately the construction of the 
federal constitution with reference to the powers of the federal 
government. (T. M. Cooley, Constitutional Law, Chapter VI. 
The Federalist Nos. 81-83. Hamilton in Federalist.) "The 
standard of good behavior or the continuation in office of the 
judicial magistracy is certainly one of the most valuable of the 
modern improvements in the practice of government. In a 
monarchy, it is an excellent barrier to the despotic prince : in a 
republic, it is no less an excellent barrier to the encroachments 
and oppression of the legislative body." 

It has been stated that : "The people of this country are 
coming to the conclusion that in certain important respects, 
the local laws of the separate states which were adequate for 
the due and just regulation and control of the business which 
was transacted, and the activity which began and ended within 
the limits of the several states, are inadequate for the due and 
just control of the business and activities which extend through- 
out all the states, and more power of regulation and control is 
gradually passing into the hands of the national government." 



CHIEF FORESTER HENRY S. GRAVES DRAWS FAVORABLE COMPARISON 
BETWEEN THE RESULTS IN THE DOMAINS UNDER AMERICAN 
JURISDICTION AND THOSE IN PRUSSIA. 

Henry S. Graves, chief forester of the Department of Agri- 
culture, has recently made a comparison between the forestry 
work of the United States and of Prussia, and the comparison is 
not to the discredit of the United States, considering the newness 
of the work here and the vastness of the field, in contrast with a 
century of well-directed effort in the relatively small field in 
Prussia. 

"It must be remembered," says Mr. Graves, "that the Prussian 



202 Constitutional Government 



forests have been under an extensive forest administration for 
more than lOo years. They are gridironed with roads and trails 
and fire Hnes, which have been gradually developed through a 
long series of years. We are following the same general system 
in this country on a much larger scale, but of course we cannot 
hope to get anywhere near the same efficiency until the country 
is more fully developed. 

"When we succeed in getting our agricultural land — strips 
scattered throughout the forests — settled and a large number of 
people in the forests utilizing them, we are not only going to have 
a better utilization of agricultural areas, but the forests will also 
be better protected." 

Asked if there is as much litter on the ground in Prussian for- 
ests as there is in the forests of the United States, Mr. Graves 
replied in the negative. 

In many states forests of incalculable value have been per- 
mitted by the local government to be destroyed by forest fires. 
Private parties owning large timber tracts have cut down the for- 
ests, leaving large barren surfaces. These should have been re- 
planted, the same as is now done by the order of the German 
states in Germany, but the states where they are located here 
have allowed these tracts to remain destitute of trees, and the 
result has been that it has brought about a scarcity of rain, which 
has been disastrous not only to the state where the mischief 
originated, but to the adjoining states, which could not interfere. 



MR. H. S. SACKETT, CONSULTING TIMBER ENGINEER, CHICAGO, ILL., 
CONTRIBUTES THE FOLLOWING ON FOREST TAXATION IN THE 
UNITED STATES, AND THE LAWS. 

Timber lands are taxed today under the general property tax 
in every State and continental Territory of the United States, 
generally in exactly the same manner as other kinds of wealth. 
In only twelve States is any special consideration given to timber 
lands in the tax laws. (Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, 
Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode 
Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Four other States 
(Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wyoming) make provision for 
bounties for timber planting and cultivation, though these boun- 
ties have no connection with the taxation of the land or trees. 
Two States, (Massachusetts and Vermont) included, however, 
in the first group mentioned above, attempt to encourage the 
planting and cultivation of trees by offering prizes, without any 
reference to taxation. In all of the other thirty States and in 
the two Territories timber lands receive no special consideration. 



Constitutional Government 203 



I. TAX EXEMPTIONS AND REBATES, AND BOUNTIES DEDUCTED 
FROM TAXES. 

The twelve States where tax laws make special reference to 
timber lands attempt to encourage the planting and cultivation 
of trees or the general practice of forestry by certain concessions 
in taxation. These concessions take the form of entire or partial 
exemptions from taxation, of rebates of part of the taxes, or of 
bounties to be deducted from the taxes. The method usually 
employed is that of exemption. The plan of a rebate is used by 
New Hampshire ; North Dakota uses bounties, while Wisconsin 
uses both exemptions and bounties. These exemptions, rebates, 
or bounties are granted to owners of timber lands in considera- 
tion of the planting, cultivating, growing, or protecting of trees, 
usually in acordance with regulations specified in the statutes, 
or under the direction of some state officer or board. In eight 
of the States the law applies only to plantations, and in five States 
the land must not be wooded at the time of planting or growing 
the trees. In one State — Connecticut — the exemption applies 
only to land "not theretofore woodland." 

The commonest form of tax concession consists of a complete 
exemption from taxes on the land and trees for a definite period 
of time, ranging from five to thirty years. The exemption be- 
gins either immediately after the land has been planted or set 
aside for the growth of trees, or after a certain period, measured 
either in years or in the growth of the trees. 

In other States the concession is by means of a rebate of part 
of the taxes for a certain number of years (New Hampshire) 
(Pennsylvania's rebate laws have recently been declared un- 
constitutional) or by means of a bounty of so many dollars per 
acre to be deducted annually from the taxes on the land. (North 
Dakota and Wisconsin). 

In other States the exemption applies to the value of the trees 
only. (Nebraska and Washington). 

Iowa grants partial exemption to forest and fruit tree reser- 
vations by an arbitrary assessment of the land at $i per acre. 
(Indiana formerly had a similar law, but it has been declared 
unconstitutional.) Iowa also exempts from assessment the value 
of all planted trees. 

II. BOUNTIES WITHOUT REFERENCE TO TAXATION. 

In four States the attempted encouragement to forest planting 
and cultivation is by means of bounties having no connection 
with taxation. Strictly speaking, these laws do not belong in a 



204 Constitutional Government 



study of taxation. However, since their general purpose is the 
same as the tax laws described above, and since they have some 
other points of resemblance to those laws, it has seemed worth 
while to mention them here for the sake of completeness. In 
only one of these cases (Minnesota) is a bounty actually offered 
by the State. The other three States merely give permission to 
the county commissioners to offer limited bounties. 

III. PRIZES. 

For the sake of completeness we also mention the two States 
which provide by law for the offering of annual prizes to en- 
courage the planting and cultivation of trees. The competitions 
are administered and the premiums granted through associations 
devoted to agriculture, etc., in the State, and funds are appro- 
priated annually by the State for this purpose. In Vermont the 
laws applies to maplesugar products. 

IV. CRITICISM. 

None of these schemes of exemptions, rebates, bounties, and 
prizes has touched the real problem of forest taxation. Obvi- 
ously, laws giving occasional small prizes for the best examples 
of tree plantations, hedge fences, etc., can have no far-reaching 
effects on the burdens of taxation. The same is true of the 
bounty laws of Illinois, Kansas, and Wyoming, which merely 
permit the several counties to grant small bounties for a few 
years. The Minnesota bounty law is the only one that has pro- 
duced any results. Up to 1906, $440,000 had been spent by the 
State for this purpose, as a result of which it is claimed that 
some 50,000 acres have been forested. If this result has indeed 
been accomplished it has been at a tremendous cost. Evidently 
we will not find a solution to the problem here. 

Something more might perhaps be expected of these laws which 
really gives some abatement of the burden of taxation by means 
of exemptions, rebates, and bounties. Yet here also we find that 
practically no results of importance have been produced. Massa- 
chusetts has had an exemption law in force ever since 1878. A 
legislative committee in 1906 reported that this law has been a 
failure, as practically no planting has been done under it." One 
of the members of this committee reports that he could find only 
16 acres in the State that had been effected by the law since 
1878. With regard to the rebate law of New Hampshire, the 
state forestry commission reports that "This abatement provi- 
sion, although three years old, is not widely known among land 
owners, and has so far been inoperative." In Connecticut, the 



Constitutional Government 205 



exemption law has been similarly ineffective. Similar reports 
come from the other States where these schemes have been in 
operation long enough to have produced any results. The con- 
clusion that these laws have produced no important results is 
confirmed by the testimony of all who have investigated the 
subject. 

This lack of results may be explained in part by certain very 
important defects in these laws. In the first place, the common 
restriction of the tax abatement to plantations, and the further 
restriction in many cases to land other than woodland, in large 
measure destroy the usefulness of the laws at the very begin- 
ning. The real problem is in connection with, not the planting 
of new forests on agricultural or other land, but the protection 
and preservation of our present forests. 

Moreover, the regulations regarding planting, thinning, etc., 
are not drawn in accordance with scientific forestry principles. 
Often the number of trees required per acre is too large. When 
the planting is restricted to certain specified kinds of trees, the 
list is not always well chosen, valuable species being often omitted. 
The proper thinning of the growing forest and the most profitable 
use of the forest are often interfered with by the requirements 
of the statutes. 

Again, the burden of the tax reduction is not provided for or 
not properly placed. The justification of the concession to the 
timber owner lies in the advantage to the State in general. Yet 
the particular locality in which the land is located is called upon 
to bear the whole or the princpal part of the burden of a dimin- 
ished revenue. What the timber owner gains must be made up 
by heavier taxes on other local property. This point was evi- 
dently not considered at all in framing these laws. 

Certain local assessors have taken this matter into their own 
hands, and have adopted the custom of adding enough to the 
assessment of some other property of the timber owner to make 
up for the reduced taxes on his timber lands. In this way they 
protect the local revenue, and also defeat the whole purpose of 
the law. 

The actual financial consideration in these laws is really not 
very great. Generally the exemption is limited to a rather short 
period of time, after which the land and trees are again subject 
to the general property tax. Moreover, the abatement comes in 
the years when the trees are small and when the taxes would 
not be very heavy anyway. The remission of taxes resulting from 
these laws is small when compared with the expense of planting 
trees and holding them to maturity. 

In short, these laws are based on no sound principles either 
of forestry or of finance. 



206 Constitutional Government 



It is not to be inferred that the failure of these laws to pro- 
duce important results is wholly due to the defects just described. 
It is very doubtful whether any law of this character, no matter 
how scientifically drawn and administered, short of a complete 
exemption of growing timber, can have any great influence on 
forests and forestry. 

The effects of all these laws on the actual burden of timber 
land taxation may be regarded as negligible. We accordingly 
return to the statement with which this chapter started, that 
timber lands are taxed in the United States with few and unim- 
portant exceptions, in exactly the same manner as other wealth 
subject to the general property tax. 

The correct method of taxation for timber lands is to apply 
the tax to them when the timber is cut. The taxation of farm 
lands annually is justified for the land produces a crop each 
year. In the case of timber lands, however, this is not true and 
it works a serious hardship on the owner to be compelled to pay 
a tax each year, when he only markets it in 80 to 150, or 200 
years. The net result of such a condition is that the timber land 
owners are endeavoring to cut all their timber just as quickly as 
possible, so they can turn this natural resource into money be- 
fore it is eaten up with taxes. It is safe to say that there can 
be no true conservation of timber in the United States until there 
is a radical change in the method of taxing it. 

The federal government should assume responsibility for the 
privately owned timber as well as that publically owned and 
should enact legislation putting all of the timber in various states 
on this same equal basis. 

CONSERVATION APPLIED TO CHILDREN, THE DUTY OF THE STATE. 

A change in the constitution was necessary to eradicate slavery 
from the Southern states. It may become necessary to have an- 
other amendment to abolish white slavery in factories, mines and 
department stores where the children of citizens of the republic 
are being reduced to absolute servitude instead of being pro- 
tected, educated and fitted to take part in the maintenance and 
strengthening of the government which now refuses to protect 
them. The federal government has charged the states to do this, 
but as the states have refused, or neglected to carry out their 
obligations, the federal government should intervene and obtain 
the constitutional right of protection over defenseless children 
of the republic. 

It is stated "two million children who should be at school and 
at play are compelled to work in canneries, mines and factories, 



Constitutional Government 207 



two hundred and fifty thousand are being starved or their vi- 
tahty is being lowered by their adulteration of foods. There 
are more inmates of our insane asylums than of all our colleges 
and universities, — that is, we are destroying minds faster than we 
are giving higher education." 

"In New York we have twenty thousand defective children, 
largely the direct result of the overwork and overstrain to which 
their mothers are subjected in factories. Conditions are worse 
here than in any other country of the world." 

While all this injustice is being perpetrated in the states, the 
general government has not, nor cannot act. An expensive, ex- 
travagant government has been engaged in promoting the inter- 
ests of what is called "big business" and straining every power it 
has to protect multimillionaires in their fight for millions, while 
the defenseless poor have been forgotten and have become the 
slaves of these barons of commerce. 



CHILD CONSERVATION. 

In 1840, a Parliamentary Commission in England made public 
the horrible conditions of women and children in the coal mines; 
stunted, crippled, misshapen wretches, living in brutal indecency ; 
and a law at once was passed which forbade underground labor 
by women and children. Thus the principles of factory legislation 
were soon extended to almost all other lines of manufacturers. 
Of the long series of later acts the most important is Asquith's 
Factory Act of 1895, which along with the other wholesome pro- 
visions, prohibits the employment of any child labor under elev- 
en years of age. See Chenyney's Industrial and Social history 
pages 257-260. 

The conservation of birds, fish and animal life is now be- 
coming the subject of state legislation and the National Congress. 
Mrs. Russell Sage recently purchased 70,000 acres of suitable 
land on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana for a bird preserve under 
control of the state. Fifty-three reservations have already been 
set aside by the Government for the protection of birds. 

It is equally important to provide infant preserves. Why 
should not the same interest be extended to the protection of in- 
fant life, and immature and often helpless infants, born into the 
world unprovided for, who may with proper care and nourish- 
ment become useful and happy citizens, with families of their 
own? Why should the infant, the growing girl and maturing 
woman, be left in many ways unprotected by the state, w^hen in 
many cases they are liable to have insufficient care, and become 
deteriorated through poverty, or the need of healthy environ- 



208 Constitutional Government 



ment, pecuniary assistance, or proper or remunerative employ- 
ment? They are surrounded also by those who are ever ready 
to betray and destroy them body and soul, when permitted to do 
so. 

Jesus Christ said: "Whoso shall offend one of these little 
ones, which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone 
were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
depths of the sea." 

If animal or bird life was left entirely unprotected, to be stunt- 
ed in its natural growth, or rendered diseased, or prematurely 
eradicated through some dangerous reptile, means would be 
taken without delay to eliminate this hostile enemy. How much 
more necessary is it to provide needful protection for human 
infants in their development, especially those capable — if prop- 
erly cared for — of becoming mothers of the human race? 

It is clearly the duty of the state to guard and nourish such 
human life in its immaturity and helplessness, when found un- 
protected and liable to injury. The state should provide the 
means not only to educate but, if it is necessary, to feed, clothe, 
and house these children, until they are fully qualified to perform 
some remunerative occupation, if no other means can be pro- 
vided. Substantial aid undoubtedly v/ould be furnished also by 
charitable and church institutions. 

A commission of competent and well known ladies should be 
appointed by the Governor, with members residing in different 
cities of the state, whose duty it would be to personally register 
these unprotected girls, look after their welfare and safety, con- 
tract for their services — when under age — in stores, factories, 
offices and homes, and keep a record of their movements for ref- 
ence at all times. Large farms, near large cities, should be 
maintained in attractive shape, supplying farm products, and 
buildings to house, when necessary, unprotected children and 
their mothers — especially girls and infants. All infants born in 
maternity hospitals should be under direct control of this com- 
mission.' Every means available to make children happy and 
healthy should be provided, including playgrounds ancl school- 
ing. When children become able to do some work, without in- 
jury to themselves, let it be done under the supervision of these 
commissioners. Lodging houses should be constructed by the 
state and run for the benefit of the laboring girls and women, 
who should be carefully watched and guarded. The Chicago 
Daily News is making a great step forward towards the preserva- 
tion of infant life by maintaining health resorts for them in sum- 
mer on the lake shore. 

Manufacturers and manv business men in the United States, 
who employ female help in large numbers, are and have been 



Constitutional Government 209 



protected in their business by Congressional and State legisla- 
tion, and enabled to pay large dividends on their stock. They 
were once "infant industries" ; nov/ let other "infants" needing 
assistance be protected by the state and nation. 

No opportunity should be left open, or possible, for the im- 
moral elements in humanity to trespass upon the happiness, 
liberty and life of wives, daughters, or mothers of American 
citizens. It is far better for the state to spend the money, with 
the aid it can obtain outside from charitable individuals, churches 
and associations, than turn helpless humanity over without proper 
protection to those unaccountable to the state. Those neglected 
ones may later fill the jails and asylums. This would, in a meas- 
ure, prevent the creation of a pauper element that is so con- 
spicuous in European countries. 

The age of consent should be fixed by law at eighteen years — 
the age at which a girl is now legally qualified to contract on her 
own account in some states. 

During the period between 1885 and 1898, a majority of the 
states of the Union raised the legal limit of girl protection. By 
1904, twelve states had fixed the age of consent at eighteen years, 
the same as for free marriage choice. One state had fixed the 
period at seventeen years, and twenty-two states at sixteen years. 
Two placed fifteen years in their statutes, thirteen states four- 
teen years, two states still retained twelve years, and one state 
still fixed ten years as the period when a little girl could legally 
enroll herself in the immoral class "by her own free will." 

The Middle Western States led in the radical change of rais- 
ing the age of consent to eighteen years, and it is noticeable that 
the states in which women have suffrage became most prominent 
in this matter of child protection. 

As an economic question, it is a serious loss to the state to 
permit the destruction or demoralization of many thousand girls 
and women, who could, by proper protection, be saved to 
strengthen the community. One hundred thousand well cared 
for and honest women saved when young and legally married — ■ 
if even half of whom became mothers — would add many thou- 
sands to the population. These could accomplish much good 
and add to the strength of the state. This is why the state, even 
from an economic standpoint, should take an active part in sav- 
ing girls and women who otherwise would swell the destructive 
elements in the population. 

All this misrule and anarchy is brought about, in a certain 
degree, through technical questions regarding state and federal 
constitutions. The great ofifenders go free in the absence of 
control by a supreme power, such as the Parliament in England, 
which dominates the entire British possessions. 



210 Constitutional Government 



However, between the state constitutions and the federal 
constitution, the state laws and the laws of Congress, with the 
intricate system of state and federal courts, and the constitu- 
tionality or unconstitutionality of the multitude of laws, the in- 
dividual citizen groping his way through this labyrinth of un- 
certainty seeking for speedy relief, finds himself bewildered and 
must employ legal talent to extricate him. Marriages and 
divorces, the transfer of property, assessments and collection of 
taxes in the different states, and many other laws which vary 
as the state lines are crossed, cause endless confusion. This will 
continue until some of the prejudices against a supreme general 
government over the entire United States are overcome, and the 
laws in different states are harmonized. 

The United States Constitution now guarantees to every state 
in the Union a republican form of government and it shall pro- 
tect each of them against invasion, on application of the Leg- 
islature, or of the Executive when the Legislature cannot be 
convened, against domestic violence. The people are allowed 
to alter or amend the constitution by a two-thirds vote of 
both houses of Congress, ratified by three-fourths of the 
legislatures of the several states. Civil and religious lib- 
erty is proclaimed with freedom of speech and of the press. 
The several states are equal among themselves, but all are subordi- 
nate to the general government. No state should be permitted, 
under this equitable constitution, to fall into hands of a few 
local tyrannical leaders, who could with impunity oppress or trifle 
with the rights of citizens under the broad and supreme general 
government, which should be given power to protect all the 
people. 



SENATOR HOKE SMITH KEEPS CHILD LABOR BILL EROM SENATE. 

Washington, March 2, 191 5. — Hoke Smith, Senator from 
Georgia, chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and 
Labor, discussing the child labor bill recently passed by the House 
and favorably reported to the Senate, said : 

"There would be at least two days' debate on this measure if 
it were called up, and that would be simply impossible at this late 
hour in the session. 

"Why do I oppose the bill?" he asked. 

"I oppose it because it infringes upon the rights of the states 
to regulate these matters according to their own views and is a 
matter in which the federal government has no concern." 



Constitutional Government 211 



CHILD LABOR BILL PASSED. 

_ Congress passed the Keating Anti-Child Labor Bill and it was 
signed by the President Sept. i. 

The measure prohibits the interstate shipment of goods manu- 
factured where children under fourteen are employed, or of mine 
and quarry products produced where children under sixteen are 
employed. 

LIMITATION OF STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

Section I, Article XIV of the Constitution ordains that "all per- 
sons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the 
state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any 
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens 
of the United States ; nor shall any state deprive any person of 
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to 
any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the 
laws." The fifteenth amendment extends the right of citizenship 
to the colored people, and gives the men the right to vote when 
of age. "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the pub- 
lic safety shall require it." The trial of all crimes, except in 
cases of impeachment, shall be by jury. 

"No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation ; 
grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of 
credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in pay- 
ment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or 
law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of 
nobility." * * * "]<lo state shall, without the consent of 
Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war 
in time of peace, enter into any agreement or contract with an- 
other state or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless 
actually invaded or in such imminent danger as will not admit 
of delay." (§ lo. Article i.) 

When the federal constitution was framed it was assumed not 
only that the protection of the personal and property rights of the 
citizens of each state would remain with the states themselves 
permanently, but also that as the federal government was to be 
a government possessing only enumerated powers. "No general 
guarantees to individuals against the improper exercise of au- 
thority on the part of the federal government was necessary." — 
21, McClain's Constitutional Law of the United States.) 

It should be the pride of all loyal citizens to preserve the 



212 Constitutional Government 



state governments as a model of excellence and compactness 
with the lines firmly drawn defining their local privileges. The 
state government, like the general government, has its powers 
distributed among several branches, and according to the fun- 
damental principles of representation, each of these branches, as 
the legislative, executive and judicial departments, becomes in its 
respective sphere the immediate and equal representative of the 
people. 

"The state constitutions recognize three coordinate depart- 
ments of government: the legislative, the executive and the 
judicial. By these constitutions and in general by all state 
constitutions framed after the original state constitutions, the 
governor as the head of the executive department is head of the 
state. He is chief administrative officer, charged in a general 
way with the enforcement of the laws ; he is at the head of the 
military establishment of the state ; and he has the pardoning 
power. He has also some functions to perform in connection 
with the legislative department." (McClain refers to J. I. C. 
Hare. Constitutional Law, lecture lo. James Bryce's American 
Commonwealth, Chapters V, VI, XX. XXI, XLI.) 

"The federal government, although a government of limited 
and delegated rather than general powers, has such implied 
powers as may be necessary to the reasonable exercise of the 
powers granted." 

"Many state constitutions include clauses either expressly 
reserving to the people the ultimate sovereignty, and all powers 
granted by the constitution to the government, or expressly lim- 
iting the departments of government to the exercise of the pow- 
ers conferred." 

It was this disconnection of the southern states from the su- 
premacy and jurisdiction of the central government, and their 
isolation from the direct influence of the more progressive 
Eastern states, which led to their enstrangement from the North- 
ern states. The local dictators, who, claiming the sovereignty 
of the states, which meant their individual supreme dictatorship, 
defied the central and federal government. This demonstrated 
the fallacy of state rights as against a supreme and central gov- 
ernment. 

It was this deference to the supposed sovereignty of the South- 
ern states which held President Buchanan back from acting 
promptly in i860. 



Constitutional Government 213 



CHAPTER VII. 



Nationai, Versus State; Sovereignty. 

From the earliest history of the constitution, and before its 
adoption, the citizens of the United States have been divided 
upon the question as to the sovereignty of the general govern- 
ment, and state sovereignty. It was first the Federalists against 
the Anti-federalists or Republicans ; then it was the Democratic 
party under the leadership of Jefferson, versus the Federalists. 
Then by some strange freak of nomenclature, the controversy 
was continued between the Democratic party and the present 
Republican party. 

Abraham Lincoln, who was the founder of the Republican 
party, advocated the supremacy of the general government 
within its own appropriate sphere, and limited only as provided 
for in Article lo, amendment to the constitution, which states 
that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the 
constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to 
the states respectively, or to the people." 

"The cantons of Switzerland are sovereign, so far as their 
sovereignty is not limited by the federal constitution, and as 
such they exercise all rights not delegated to the federal power. 
The two sovereignties must be coexisting, and the first question 
is, how to balance them against each other, in such a way as to 
prevent any due preponderance of either." 

"The internal history of Switzerland clearly shows the ex- 
istence of a double sovereignty in the confederation — the one 
federal, and the other cantonal, and instances abound of their 
frequent opposition to each other." — (Sir Francis O. Adams, on 
the Swiss Constitution.) 

The constitution of the United States does not admit of a 
similar double sovereignty. Abraham Lincoln held that "acts 
of violence within any state or states against the authority 
of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, ac- 
cording to circumstances. That one of the objects of forming 
and establishing a constitution in 1787 was to form a more 
perfect union." This would tend to indicate the superior, or 
sovereign power of the national government, composed of the 
executive, legislative and judicial departments. The latter has 



214 Constitutional Government 



the power of construing the constitution and the question of 
sovereignty where there is a conflict as to authority. 

The Democratic party advocated state rights as its pet theory, 
following Jefferson, who was elected on the first Democratic 
ticket. 

"The chief source of hostility against national sovereignty," 
as stated by James Bryce, "is the belief that a strong central 
government endangers both the rights of the states and the 
liberties of the individual citizen." "Consolidation would ex- 
tinguish the state governments and the local institutions they 
protected." The southern states were afraid of the overthrow 
of slavery and stood out for state sovereignty. 

These theories, that obtain even since the civil war regard- 
ing state rights, cannot be maintained in the United States with- 
out sooner or later bringing the state governments into collision 
with the national government. Some day the national govern- 
ment will attempt, with the approval of the Supreme Court, 
to exercise some rights it will claim to possess, but which a 
state or states will deny, and the result will be a dispute as to 
the assumed rights of the state. It will then be like two sover- 
eigns, contending for supremacy over the same territory, as in 
the case of the civil war. 

It has been stated that "no one who properly understands 
our form of government doubts that each government and de- 
partment thereof, is sovereign in the exercise of power belong- 
ing to it." Although each government may have specified and 
limited powers granted to it, only one power, that comprised 
within the range of the national government, is sovereign when 
the two are disputing about their supreme power in any particu- 
lar. Webster defines sovereign as "superior to all other, highest, 
predominant, independent of any other: sovereign state, a state 
which administers its own government and is not dependent 
upon and subject to another power: Sovereignty, the exercise 
of, or right to exercise supreme power." 

The arguments set forth to prove that each government, state 
or national, is sovereign in the exercise of powers that belong 
to it, are fallacious as to the meaning intended to be conveyed 
to the people, for although they each have specified powers, 
only one can be sovereign. 

This sovereign power in the United States is vested in the 
citizen-voters of the nation. They have delegated certain lim- 
ited powers to the national government, and certain limited 
powers to the state governments ; and the state and national 
governments can only exercise those limited powers; but if there 
is a conflict as to which possesses the sovereign power in a dis- 
puted case, the state must peacefully abide the decision of the 



Constitutional Government 215 



Supreme Court, one of the branches of the national government. 
Every intelHgent voter should be able to understand that fact. 
According to this construction, when we compare the powers 
of the state governments with the powers of the national govern- 
ment, comprising several distinct branches including the judicial, 
they must admit that the latter, having the power through the 
United States Supreme Court of giving the final decision on 
all disputed acts of the legislative branch and the meaning of 
all provisions of the constitution and on all questions of con- 
troversy between the states and the nation, is the higher and 
supreme law of the land. Under this construction also every 
voter, being part of the sovereign power of the nation, has a 
right to protection from one of the different agencies which 
he has assisted in instituting and supporting which is capable 
of rendering relief, if any rights, such as his privilege to vote, 
his personal liberty, or his right of free speech, are interfered 
with by a combination of individuals, or even by a state. 

If the word sovereign is to be used, it cannot be appropriated 
by two distinct powers in the land. It must be stricken out be- 
fore the word state, or before the word nation. A portion of 
our countrymen have elected to strike it out before "state," 
and leave it in before the word "nation," as it covers the vast 
power of the national legislature, and the power granted the 
Supreme Court of final decision on controverted points. An- 
other portion of our citizens, however, practically strike it out 
before "nation" and leave it in before "state." It is an incon- 
testable fact that two sovereign powers cannot exist over the 
same territory at the same time. This applies to America as 
well as to European states or governments. Switzerland has 
tried it, but found it unsatisfactory and unreasonable. 

No such contrary forces have ever been maintained success- 
fully in any substantial government. They have proven to be 
very dangerous elements to contend with in our government, 
and in Switzerland, when the attempt was made to enforce 
them. As the people of every state are represented in the three 
branches of the national government without distinction, they 
should fear no evil from that government, if they properly un- 
derstand and exercise their right under the constitution. It is 
only when they commit a wrong as a state, or a combination of 
states, that they come into collision with the constitution, the 
same as a man who steals comes into collision with the laws of 
the state. 

All the slave states objected to relinquishing the sovereignty 
of the individual states, but nevertheless ratified the consti- 
tution. Lincoln stated in his first inaugural address that when 
an association of states is made by contract merely, it can- 



216 Constitutional Government 



not be unmade by less than all parties thereto, and no state 
can by its own motion legally get out of the Union ; "that acts of 
violence within any state or states, against the authority of the 
United States, are insurrectionary, or revolutionary, according 
to circumstances." 

John Fiske states (In his work entitled, "The Critical Period 
of American History, "1783-1789," pp. 343-344), that "the de- 
cisive struggle was over the question whether New York could 
ratify the constitution conditionally, reserving to herself the 
right to withdraw from the Union in case the amendments upon 
which she had set her heart, should not be adopted. Upon this 
point Hamilton reinforced himself with the advice of Madison, 
who had just returned to New York. Could a state once adopt 
the constitution and then withdraw from the Union if not satis- 
fied? Madison's reply was prompt and decisive. No, such a 
thing could never be done. A state which had once ratified 
was in the federal bond forever. A constitution could not pro- 
vide for, nor contemplate its own overthrow. There could be 
no such a thing as a constitutional right of secession." 

The constitution contains no provision for the secession of a 
state. It is not a contract between absolutely sovereign states 
like the confederation between the twenty cantons of Switzer- 
land, was originally. A clause should have been inserted at the 
time, plainly stating that no state could secede from the Union, 
except by the consent of all, or two-thirds of the states. Had 
this been done, it might have held the southern states in check. 
But the southern states would not have ratified the constitution 
in that shape probably. 

Had the constitution contained an amendment providing for 
a referendum, the "slave question" could have been submitted 
to the people of all states and settled in that way constitutionally. 

To know how earnestly President Lincoln regarded this sub- 
ject, on the eve of the Civil War, read the last clause of his 
first inaugural. "I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but 
friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have 
strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic 
chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and pa- 
triot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this 
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again 
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our na- 
ture." 

When Gen. Robert E. Lee assumed the presidency of Wash- 
ington College October 1865, which position he occupied until 
October, 1870, he said, "I think it the duty of every citizen, in 
the present condition of the country, to do all in his power to 
aid in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way to 



Constitutional Government 217 



oppose the policy of the state or general government directed 
to that object." 

To the Confederate Government of Virginia, he said: "The 
duty of citizens appears to me too plain to admit of doubt. All 
should unite in honest effort to obliterate the effects of war, and 
to restore the blessings of peace. They should remain if possi- 
ble in the country; promote harmony and good feeling; qualify 
themselves to vote, and elect to the state and legislature wise 
and patriotic men, who will devote their abilities to the healing 
of all dissensions. I have invariably recommended this course 
since the cessation of hostilities and have endeavored to practice 
it myself. 

After fifty years the veterans of the Blue and the Gray fra- 
ternized and meet in brotherly love and forgiveness on the his- 
toric battle ground of Gettysburg, and Chattanooga — this is the 
best result of times soothing and restoring influence. We have 
accomplished peace between the North and the South. North- 
ern capital enterprise is used to build up the Southern states and 
a new spirit of northern prosperity is gaining a sure foothold 
there. The vast tracts of uncultivated lands of Louisiana and 
Florida are being reclaimed and cultivated by northern capital- 
ists. The prejudice of Southerners against the old time Yankees 
is an incident of the past, and one of the most honored and 
loved heroes of the common country is Abraham Lincoln. 



SECESSION A NEW ENGLAND DOCTRINE. 

"John Quincy Adams, a supporter of the embargo act of 1807, 
privately informed President Jefferson (in February, 1809) 
that further attempts to enforce it in the New England states 
would be likely to drive them to secession. Accordingly, the 
embargo was repealed and the non-intercourse act substituted 
for it. Secession is not exclusively a New England doctrine. 
When the constitution was adopted by the vote of states in 
popular conventions, it is safe to say there was not a man in 
the country from Washington and Hamilton on the one side to 
George Clinton and George Mason on the other, who regarded 
the new system as anything but an experiment, entered into by 
the states, and from which each and every state had the right to 
withdraw, a right which was very likely to be exercised." — (See 
"American State Documents and Federal Relations," page 21, 
and Henry Cabott Lodge's "Webster," page 176.) 

"In discussing the bill for the admission of Louisiana in 181 1, 
Josiah Quincy said: 'Why sir, I have already heard of six 
states, and some say that there will be at no great distance more. 



218 Constitutional Government 



I have also heard that the mouth of the Ohio will be far to the 
east of the contemplated empire. * * * It is impossible that 
such a power could be granted. It was not for these men that 
our fathers fought, it was not for them this constitution was 
adopted. You have no authority to throw the rights and liber- 
ties and property of this people into hotchpot with the wild 
men on the Missouri, or with the mixed, though more respectable 
race of Anglo-Hispano-Americans who bask on the sands in the 
mouth of the Mississippi. * * * I am compelled to declare 
it as my deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, the bonds of 
the Union are virtually dissolved ; that the states which compose 
it are free from their moral obligations ; and that, as it will be 
the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare defi- 
nitely for a separation — amicably, if they can, violently, if they 
must' " 

June 15, 1813, the Massachusetts legislature endorsed the posi- 
tion taken in this speech. 

"As late as 1844 the threat of secession came again from 
Massachusetts. Its legislature resolved that the commonwealth, 
faithful to the compact between the people of the United States 
according to the plain meaning and intent in which it was under- 
stood by them, is sincerely anxious for its preservation ; but 
that it is determined, as it doubts not other states are, to submit 
its undelegated powers in no body of men on earth." And that 
"the project of the annexation of Texas, unless arrested at the 
threshold, may tend to drive these states into a dissolution of the 
Union." 

This was just seventeen years before the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts began to arm her sons to put down secession in 
the South. 



GROWTH OF THE SOUTH. 
I912. 

Since obtaining control of their state governments the whites 
in the southern states have as a rule increased appropriations 
for common schools by at least four hundred per cent, and 
though paying themselves by far the greater proportion of these 
taxes, they have continued to divide revenues pro rata between 
the white and the colored schools. 

Industrial results have been amazing. The following figures, 
taken from the Annual Blue Book, 191 1 edition, of the Manu- 
facturers' Record, Baltimore, Maryland, include West Virginia 
among the reconstructed states. 



Constitutional Government 219 



The population of these states was, in 1880, 13,608,703; in 
1910, 23,613,533. 

Manufacturing capital, 1880, $147,156,624. In 1900 (twenty 
years after) it was $1,019,056,200. 

Cotton crop, whole south, 1880, 5,761,252 bales. In 191 1 it 
was about 15,000,000. 

Of this cotton crop southern mills took, in 1880, 321,337 bales, 
and in 1910, 2,344,343 bales. 

In 1880 the twelve reconstructed states cut of lumber, board 
measure, 2,981,274,000 feet; and in 1909 22,445,000,000 feet. 

Their output of pig iron in 1880 was 264,991 long tons; in 
1910, 3,048,000 tons. The assessed value of taxable property in 
1880 was $2,106,971,271; in 1910 $6,522,195,139. 

The negro, though the white man, with his superior energy 
and capacity, far outstrips him, has shared in this material pros- 
perity. His property in these states has been estimated as high 
as $500,000,000. 

The north had the army and navy, factories of every descrip- 
tion, and free access to the ports of the world. 

The population of the north was 22,339,978. 

The population of the south was 9,103,332, of which 3,653,870 
were colored. The total white male population of the Confed- 
eracy, of all ages, was 2,799,818. 

The reports of the Adjutant-General of the United States, 
November 9, 1880, show 2,859,132 men mustered into the service 
of the United States in 1861-65. General Marcus J. Wright, 
of the United States War Record Office, in his last estimate of 
Confederate enlistments, places the outside number at 700,000. 
The estimate of Colonel Henderson, of the staff of the British 
army, in his "Life of Stonewall Jackson," is 900,000. Colonel 
Thomas J. Livermore, of Boston, estimates the number of Con- 
federates at about 1,000,000, and insists that in the Adjutant- 
General's reports of the Union enlistments there are errors that 
would bring down the number of Union soldiers to about 
2,000,000. Colonel Livermore's estimates are earnestly combated 
by Confederate writers. 

It has been estimated that since the war this country has paid 
its soldiers over $5,000,000,000. The South has paid of this 
amount $1,800,000,000. 



RECONCILIATION. 

The time has now happily come when, to use the language 
of Senator Hoar, "as Americans, we can, north and south, 
discuss the causes that brought about our terrible war, in friendly 



220 Constitutional Government 



and quiet spirit, without heat, each understanding the other, 
each striving to help the other as men who are bearing a com- 
mon burden and looking forward with a common hope." 

"The country, it is believed, has already reached the conclu- 
sions that the south was absolutely honest in maintaining the 
right of secession and absolutely unswerving in its devotion to 
its ideas of the constitution, and that the north was equally 
honest and patriotic in its fidelity to the Union." — (Hilliard A. 
Herbert, LL. D. in "The Abolition Crusade and its Conse- 
quences." Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.) 

In recent years a large amount of Northern capital has been 
invested in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and other Southern 
states. Some parts of marsh land have been worked and put 
under cultivation. Mills have been built for lumber industry 
and manufacturing of different kinds. There is little or no 
hostility manifested toward Northerners and the enterprise of 
the North has been gradually extended. 



Constitutional Government 221 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Causes Which Led to the Rebellion. 

The adherence of the southern states to the old doctrine 
of the anti-federaHsts of state sovereignty — the Missouri Com- 
promise — the Nulhtication Act of South Carohna, prepared by 
John C. Calhoun, the great apostle of State rights — the annexa- 
tion of Texas — the Kansas-Nebraska bill, passed 1854, repealing 
the Missouri Compromise — the division of the Democratic party 
at the time of the nomination of Democratic candidates for the 
presidency in i860 — the Democratic opinion rendered March, 
1857, by Chief-Justice Taney "that negroes, whether free or 
slaves, were not citizens of the United States, and that they 
could not become such by any process known to the Constitu- 
tion" and could be taken into the territories the same as any 
other property — the capture of Harper's Ferry by John Brown 
in 1859, and his capture by Col. Robert E. Lee, then officer in 
U. S. Army — Brown's execution — the Free Soil party getting 
possession of Kansas — the election of Abraham Lincoln, the 
opponent of slavery and of state sovereignty, in November, 
i860 — the secession of South Carolina from the Union, Decem- 
ber 17, i860, and the subsequent secession of Mississippi, Flor- 
ida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, which all with- 
drew from the general government by February ist, 1861 — the 
formation of the "Confederate States of America," on the 4th of 
February, 1861, by six Southern states, at Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, and election of Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens 
as President and Vice-President, and organization of a new 
government on the 8th of the same month — the failure of the 
peace conference, representing thirty-one states, at Washington, 
to effect anything — and the bombardment and capture of Fort 
Sumter, Ap'ril ii, 1861, by Gen. P. T. Beauregard, and the 
forced surrender by Major Andreson of Sumter to the Southern 
Confederacy — all combined to bring about the fearful catastro- 
phe of the rebellion against the authority of the National Consti- 
tution, under zvhich had been conducted the affairs of govern- 
ment since Washington's inauguration, April 30, 1789. 

The Republican party entered into power under the 
administration oe Abraham Lincoln at an era more fraught 
with peril than when the colonies proclaimed their independence. 



222 Constitutional Government 



A succession of events followed filled with terror, burned 
into the memories of those then living. That party, with the aid 
of many patriotic democrats, put down the rebellion, reorganized 
and reestablished all the seceded states and placed again in 
splendid running order, with its remodeled constitution, this mag- 
nificent government. It must be remembered that in 1787 the 
Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by 
Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, were after- 
ward formed out of this territory; that Louisiana was purchased 
of Napoleon April 30, 1803, for $11,000,000 cash and $3,750,000 
assumed debts due from French citizens to Americans, making 
$14,750,000, for a territory of more than 1,000,000 square miles; 
and that Alaska, with 580,000 square miles, was purchased March 
30, 1867, for $7,200,000, by the United States. 

February and March, 1861, an amendment forbidding the 
constitution to be ever so amended as to authorize congress to 
interfere with the domestic institutions, including slavery, was 
passed in both houses by a democratic majority, but never sub- 
mitted to the states, as the Civil War broke out soon after. At 
that time the South had a majority of the members of congress. 

Mr. Lincoln in his message July 4th, 1861, said: "They (the 
disunionists) invented an ingenious sophism which, if conceded, 
was followed by perfectly logical steps, through all the incidents 
to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is, 
that any state of the Union may, consistently with the national 
Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully, withdraw 
from the Union without the consent of the Union or of any other 
state. The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exer- 
cised only for just cause, themselves to be the judges of its 
justice, is too thin to merit any notice." 

He also stated that "The express plighting of faith by each 
and all of the original thirteen states in the Articles of Confed- 
eration two years later that the Union shall be perpetual, is 
most conclusive. Having neither been states either in sub- 
stance or name, outside of the Union, whence this magical 
omnipotence of 'State Rights' asserting a claim of power to 
lawfully destroy the Union itself? Much is said about the 
'Sovereignty' of states ; but the word even is not in the national 
constitution ; nor as is believed, in any of the state constitu- 
tions. What is 'Sovereignty' in the political sense of the 
term? Would it be far wrong to define it 'a political com- 
munity without a political superior?' Tested by this, no one of 
our states, except Texas, ever was a sovereignty. These states 
have their status in the Union and they have no other legal 
status. If they seceded from this they can only do so against 



Constitutional Government 223 



the law and by revolution. The Union and not themselves sepa- 
rately provided their independence and their liberty." 

"By conquest or purchase the Unions gave each of them what- 
ever independence or liberty it has. This relative matter of na- 
tional power and state rights as a principle, is no other than 
the principle of generality and locality." 

In the summer of 1862, Lincoln proposed a draft of the 
Proclamation of Emancipation and submitted it to a full cabinet 
meeting. It was issued September 22, 1862. This could only be 
warranted and maintained under the constitution on the ground 
of its being a war measure, taken to prevent the overthrow of 
the Constitution and the Union. 

Abraham Lincoln and other students of the constitution were 
conscious of the conflicting elements contained in the constitution, 
but were judicious enough to keep within the strict hmits of its 
provisions (although they did not fully endorse all) so as not to 
commit any unconstitutional acts ; but the secessionists, who were 
never out of the jurisdiction of the constitution, violated its plain 
instructions, both in regard to their assumed right to secede, and 
their determination to enforce the extension of slavery into the 
territories. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, in the Dred Scott 
case, undertook to decide that slavery could be extended into the 
territories. This decision was a political trick to help the South, 
and was not warranted by the constitution even prior to the Thir- 
teenth Amendment. After the war Andrew Johnson had the 
audacity to quote this decision when the Fifteenth Amendment 
was being discussed in Congress. 



LINCOLN LOYAL TO CONSTITUTION. 

April 28, 1912, President Taft made public a letter from the 
Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, in which Mr. Lincoln defined his father's 
views upon the constitution, as follows : 

"The government under which my father lived was, as it is 
now, a republic, or representative democracy, checked by the 
constitution, which can be changed by the people, but only when 
acting by methods which compel deliberation and exclude so far 
as possible the effect of passionate and shortsighted impulse. A 
government in which the checks of an established constitution are 
actually or practically omitted — one in which the people act in a 
mass directly on all questions and not through their chosen rep- 
resentatives, is an unchecked democracy, a form of government 
so full of danger, as shown by history, that it has ceased to exist 
except in communities small and concentrated as to space. A 



224 Constitutional Government 



New England town meeting may be good, but such a govern- 
ment in a large city or state would be chaos. 

"As I understand it, the essence of Mr. Roosevelt's proposals 
is that we shall adopt the latter form of government in place of 
the existing form. This, in simple words, is a proposed revolu- 
tion, peaceful perhaps, but a revolution. In support of these 
revolutionary doctrines which, if successful, would abolish the 
form and spirit of our existing government, and surely, I think, 
lead to attempted dictatorships, resort is had to what is claimed 
to be the words and teachings of President Lincoln." 

"President Lincoln wrote many letters, made many public ad- 
dresses and was the author of many documents. I do not know 
of the existence in any of them of a word of censure or of com- 
plaint of our government or of the methods by which it was car- 
ried on. He was sincerely and faithfully obedient to our Con- 
stitution. In the single act for which he is most remembered — 
the issuance of the emancipation proclamation — he expressly sup- 
ported it as an act warranted by the Constitution upon military 
necessity. 

"On one public occasion he described the effect of the counting 
of slaves in congressional and electoral representation. In com- 
ment he said : 

" 'Now all this is manifestly unfair ; yet I do not mention it to 
complain of it in so far as it is already settled. It is in the Con- 
stitution and I do not for that cause, or any other cause, propose 
to destroy or alter or disregard the Constitution. I stand to it 
fairly, fully and firmly.' 

"He hated slavery, but his reverence for the Constitution and 
law was such that he said publicly again and again, that if a mem- 
ber of Congress he would faithfully support a fugitive slave law. 

"His attitude toward the Dred Scott decision is urged as in 
support of the pernicious project for the recall by popular vote 
of judges and of judicial decisions. Pie thought it an erroneous 
decision, but his chief point in reference to it was not its error 
but that it indicated a scheme, and was part of it, for the nation- 
alization of human slavery. He never suggested a change in our 
government under which the judges who made it should be re- 
called, but said that he would resist it politically by voting, if m 
his power, for an act prohibiting slavery in United States terri- 
tory, and then endeavor to have the act sustained in a new pro- 
ceeding by the same court reversing itself. 

"Is there to be found here, or anywhere else, support for a 
project to abolish the essential elements or any elements of our 
Constitution? Yet he is cited in support of such action. 

"He loved the government under which he lived, and when at 
Gettysburg he prayed — if I may use that word — 'that a govern- 



Constitutional Government 225 



ment of the people, by the people and for the people may not 
perish from the earth,' he meant and could only mean that gov- 
ernment under which he lived, a representative government of 
balanced executive, legislative and judicial parts, and not some- 
thing entirely different — an unchecked democracy. 

"These often quoted words of President Lincoln are now de- 
liberately altered and argument founded on their altered form. 

"I may be permitted to say that I do not think the public 
wishes the Gettysburg speech to be rewritten and its words 
changed by any one, however distinguished, for any purpose, 
least of all in order to support a proposition that President Lin- 
coln could not possibly have had in mind." 



WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENDED. 

General G. Cadwalader refused to obey the writ of habeas 
corpus, it is said, in the case of John Merryman. On the 27th 
of May, 1861, Merryman was arrested in Maryland on a charge 
of treason, and confined in Fort McHenry. Chief Justice Taney, 
sitting alone on the Circuit Court bench, issued a writ of habeas 
corpus, to which the military officer — though no public notice 
of an executive order had been given — replied that he was au- 
thorized by the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus 
for the public safety. Taney, therefore, ordered the arrest of 
the officer, on the ground that there was no process short of an 
act of congress which could justify military detention of a 
civilian, and that the President had no constitutional authority 
to suspend the habeas corpus and, of course, none to delegate 
such suspension. 

The marshal was, however, by military force, prevented from 
serving the writ, and Taney, with a clear understanding of his 
helplessness, certified his decision to the President, in order 
that, as he said, that officer might "perform his constitutional 
duty to enforce the laws, or at least to enforce a process of 
this kind." The President simply ignored Taney's decision, and 
throughout the war continued to hold suspected persons under 
arrest, at first by his own authority, and then under legislation 
obtained from Congress.— (Life of Samuel B. Chase, by Albert 
Bushnell Hart, 1899.) 

INFLUENCE OF OUR CONSTITUTION. 

Other writers have called attention to the fact that many 
nations have been influenced by the success and prosperity of 



226 Constitutional Government 



this country under its representative form of constitutional gov- 
ernment, and have in a measure tried to pattern after it. 

The Hon. James Bryce said : "The best testimony to the ex- 
cellence of your system in speaking of the United States, is to 
be found in the influence that it has had upon other countries. 
It is an interesting fact that your constitution and ours (referring 
to the English) have been in their general line the patterns of 
all other modern free constitutions. The British Constitution 
has been taken as being more or less a model by all the free 
governments that have been established in Europe and the Brit- 
ish Colonies since 1815. Your constitution has been taken as 
a model — imperfect as some of the reproductions have been — by 
the republican governments that have been established in every 
part of the Western World. That is to say, in South America 
and Central America, and it has also had a profound influence 
not only on the latest constitution of Switzerland, that of 1874, 
but also upon the federal constitutions of Canada, Australia 
and South America. 

"Your constitution by the example it has set of its working, 
and by the halo of fame which now surrounds it, has become 
one of the vital and vitalizing forces of the modern world. Let 
us honor the group of illustrious men who. meeting in Philadel- 
phia, rendered this incomparable and enduring service not to 
you onlv, but also to all mankind. 

"The best proof of the success which attended the framing of 
the constitution is to be found in the fact that the constitution 
wliich they framed for a nation that only a little exceeded three 
million people has been found now to fit the needs of ninety- 
three millions. It may not fit those needs perfectly, but it is 
extraordinary that it shall fit them at all." 

"Through the principles of democracy and nationality, 
there was created a new Germany, a new Italy, a new French 
Republic, a more democratic England, a constitutional federal 
Austria-Hungary, a group of Slavs in the Balkan peninsula." 
(West's Modern History.) All these and other small states of 
Europe, not mentioning North and South America and Australia, 
in a great measure subsequently remodeled their governments 
after methods which obtained in England and the United States. 

During the first half of the nineteenth century, after the revo- 
lution in France and the execution of Louis Sixteenth, who was 
opposed to a constitutional government, there was a general de- 
mand throughout the European states for more liberal methods 
of !?overnment. At the same time however,^ there was strong 
opposition among prominent rulers there against granting more 
independence to their states or subjects. Francis of Aiistria 
said: "The whole world is foolish and wants constitutions." 



Constitutional Government 227 



Prince Metternich made it his life work to prevent Prussia and 
other German states from introducing constitutional govern- 
ments. He did all he could to counteract the new stimulus of 
freedom prevailing among the discontented elements in Germany 
and Austria caused by the revolution of 1830 and the overthrow 
of Charles X. Emperor Ferdinand, who so hated the very word 
"constitution" that he is said to have forbidden his physician to 
employ it, was finally forced to give one to his whole monarchy. 

When the question of a constitution came up February 3, 
1847, King Frederick William IV. of Prussia said : "Never will 
I allow a written document to come between God in Heaven and 
this land in the character of a second Providence, to govern us 
with its formalities and take the place of ancient loyalty." Yet he 
finally granted Prussia a constitution, January 31, 1850. In it 
Article IV. stated that "all Prussians are equal before the law. 
Class_ privileges there are none. Public offices subject to the con- 
stitutions imposed by law are equally accessible to all who are 
competent to hold them." 

In July, 1913, the Kaiser William II. burned the political testa- 
ment of his ancestor, Frederick William IV., and refused to carry 
out his autocratic command to overthrow the Prussian con- 
stitution. He remained faithful to his royal oath and acted the 
part of a patriotic and honorable ruler by boldly throwing his 
ancestor's document in the fire. The present Kaiser is a much 
wiser ruler than Frederick William IV. 

After the termination of the civil war 1861-1865, and after 
the Franco-Prussian war 1871, a United Germany was formed 
under a liberal constitution, in some respects patterned after that 
of the United States with the King, William I. of Prussia, as 
President, under the title of "German Emperor." Baron Stein, 
who was a trusted adherent of Frederick the Great, once said, 
"I have but one fatherland, which is called Germany. With my 
whole heart I am devoted to it, and not to any part of its parts." 
He stood for the union of the German States, as Lincoln did for 
the union of the United States of America. 

Eight years later, after all the civilized world had progressed 
in the methods of government and had adopted constitutions, 
Nicholas II. issued his famous decree granting the formation of 
the National Duma and a parliamentary government to his coun- 
try. 



THE HOLY ALLIANCE AND MONROE DOCTRINE. 

Monroe sent a message to Congress December, 1823, explain- 
ing his policy of preventing foreign powers from getting a foot- 



228 Constitutional Government 



hold on American soil. This subsequently became known as the 
"Monroe Doctrine," first: 

"The American continents were not henceforth to be consid- 
ered as subject for future colonization by any European power." 

"Second, That efforts to coerce the newly established govern- 
ment would be regarded as proof of "an unfriendly disposition 
toward the United States." 

This policy had been endorsed by George Washington, John 
Quincy Adams, and Jeft'erson. 

During John Quincy Adams' administration a convention of all 
the American republics was held, and Adams then took the posi- 
tion that through such a congress the influence of the United 
States would be extended and the Monroe Doctrine more firmly 
established. 

President Wilson said in his Mobile speech, recently: "it is 
our duty to make the Western Hemisphere the home of the free, 
governed only as the people dictate. We must follow the course 
of high principle, not of expediency, no matter what the pres- 
sure." 

President Cleveland said in 1895 in a message to Congress that 
the Monroe Doctrine should be adhered to in the settlement of 
the boundary dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela, and 
that the former should not be permitted to encroach upon the 
territory of the latter. The question was submitted to arbitration 
and satisfactorily settled on this basis. 

Sydney Smith called the Holy Alliance "the Crowned Con- 
spirators of Verona." The absolute sovereigns of Austria, 
Russia and Prussia signed a declaration that they would 
intervene to put down revolution against any established gov- 
ernment. Thus the principle of intervention was a proclama- 
tion that monarchs would support each other's divine rights 
against the people. It was directed against the right of any 
people to throw off despotic rule and to make its government 
for itself. England protested. The Holy Alliance, started by 
Alexander I., September, 1815, "promises to govern their re- 
spective peoples as 'branches of one Christian nation' in ac- 
cordance with the precepts of justice, charity and peace." This 
was signed by every Christian ruler on the continent except the 
Pope. Its name of Holy Alliance, however, was applied to the 
other League which the three monarchial states, Austria, Russia 
and Prussia, signed afterwards. 

The Holy Alliance wished to restore monarchical control in 
the revolted Spanish colonies in America. The United States 
and England objected. The Monroe Doctrine originated, 1822, 
partly in this action against the Holy Alliance. The United 



Constitutional Government 229 



States objected to the extension of this poHtical system to 
America. 

In the year of the revolution (1848), this system of Metter- 
nich's. an absolute monarchical rule, through this Holy Alliance, 
or unholy alliance, and the suppression of constitutional govern- 
ments in Europe, was overthrown. There never again was 
a concert of European powers formed in the interests of des- 
potism. 



PAN-AMERICANISM AND THE) MONROT; DOCTRINE. 

In view of the present situation in Mexico, with an armistice 
agreed upon by the forces of the United States and the Huertis- 
tas, while the representatives of Argentina, Brazil and Chile 
strive to formulate an agreement for peace that will satisfy all 
nations and factions involved, some review of the progress of 
Pan-Americanism is interesting. 

Few observers of the present situation remember that it was 
the British prime minister, Canning, who, in conference with 
United States Minister Rush in 1822, gave the first impetus to 
that growing solidarity of the North and South American re- 
publics which is latterly called Pan-Americanism, and of which 
the much debated Monroe Doctrine has been the bulwark. 

The "Holy Alliance" of the Emperors of Russia and Austria 
and the King of Prussia was contracted in 181 5 without the aid of 
intervening ministers but by themselves as absolute sovereigns. 
Their object was primarily to rehabilitate autocracy with "jure 
divino," and secondarily to prevent the rise of, and to overthrow 
free governments and to dominate the world. This is the ac- 
count of it given by Oscar S. Strauss in his new book, "The 
American Spirit," page 62. 

France took a hand in 1823, meddling with the Spanish con- 
stitution of the cortez and upholding the absolutism desired by 
Ferdinand VII. But now the British government protested, dis- 
claiming for itself and denying to other powers the right of re- 
quiring any change in the internal institutions of an independent 
state. Then the allied powers proposed to intervene in South 
America and Canning wrote to Rush : "Is not the moment come 
when our governments might understand each other as to the 
Spanish-American colonies?" He said that while Britain did 
not aim at possession of any Spanish colonies she "could not 
view their transfer to any other power with indifference." 



230 Constitutional Government 



ORIGIN OF THE STElP. 

If any European plan looked to a forcible entrance into any 
Spanish-American colony, Britain and the United States might 
well declare their "joint disapprobation of such projects." He 
wrote that there had seldom occurred in history such an oppor- 
tunity for two friendly governments so easily to prevent such 
extensive calamities. 

Though he concurred in the idea, President Monroe did not 
adopt the proposal of a joint declaration. He maintained that 
the public policy of the United States, which kept aloof from in- 
termingling with European affairs, implied non-intervention 
by Europe in the affairs of the west. The phrasing of the Mon- 
roe Doctrine shows clearly that it was not set forth in conse- 
quence of the acts of the "Holy Alliance" and in response to the 
advice of Britain. 

Mr. Strauss says that the Monroe Doctrine embodies the gold- 
en rule of international relations. It is not a producer of war 
but a harbinger of peace. It hastened not only the independence 
of the colonies on this hemisphere, but it relieved Europe of the 
absolutism of the "holy alliance." Lord Brougham said that 
Monroe's message to Congress was an event "than which none 
has ever dispersed greater joy, exultation and gratitude over all 
the freedom of Europe." Canning said, referring to his share 
of the plan, "I called the new world into existence to redress the 
balance of the old." 

PAN-AMERICANISM 'S GROWTH. 

In 1882 Secretary Frelinghuysen told James Russell Lowell 
that the doctrine so formulated by Monroe, expounded by Ad- 
ams and counseled by Jefferson and Madison, would hardly be 
controverted by Great Britain, for it was an international doc- 
trine which she herself proposed to the United States when look- 
ing to her own interests and which when adopted by the United 
States she had highly approved. Secretary Fish said, when a 
settlement of affairs in Central America was pending, that the 
LTnited States stands solemnly committed by repeated declara- 
tions and acts to the Monroe Doctrine. It stands against any in- 
crease of European power or influence in the west. It hopefully 
anticipates the time when European powers shall depart from 
the western continent and leave it entirely American. 

On the other hand the advance of the Pan-American idea has 
been very slow. The southern republics have, as a whole been 
desirous neither of a union among themselves nor of union with 



Constitutional Government 231 



the United States. In 1888 the United States Congress invited 
the Pan-American governments to send delegates to a conference 
at Washington, v^diich was presided over by James G. Blaine and 
attended by every state except San Domingo. A majority of the 
members voted for compulsory arbitration and an international 
American bank was proposed. The one concrete result was that 
the international bureau of American Republics was established 
at Washington to publish information concerning all the Amer- 
ican countries. 

In 1901 the second Pan-American conference met in Mexico 
City and arbitration was again the chief topic. The international 
bureau was reorganized on a stronger basis, with the United 
States secretary of state as chairman. The third Pan-American 
confeience was 1 eld at Rio de Janeiro in 1905. Nineteen st-'tes 
were represented, all in fact except Haiti and Venezuela. Elihu 
Root, United States secretary of state, addressed the conference. 
The next one was held in Buenos Aires in 19 10. It renamed the 
bureau the bureau of Pan-American Union. 

In 191 2, too, a Pan-American States Association was proposed 
by business men as purely a matter of commercial interest. It is 
stated frankly to be concerned with the personal interests of 
each member. It is hoped to bring about closer and belter rela- 
tions between North and South American business houses, and 
many men of public and financial responsibility are lending it 
support. — {Christian Science Monitor, May 2, 1914.) 



THE NEW MONROE DOCTRINE. 

William I. Hull, Ph. D., of Swarthmore College, says in his 
book published by G. P. Putnam Sons : 

"The United States must prepare itself for leadership along 
this line (referring to the present war in Europe) by internation- 
alizing the Monroe Doctrine" * * * The rapid development 
of the Doctrine by the logic of recent events is illustrated by 
various facts associated with and apart from the present war. 
The emergence of a Japanese Monroe Doctrine for Asia, the 
possibility of a German invasion of British and French domin- 
ions in America, the misunderstandings of Great Britain with 
sundry American republics in regard to neutralitv, and the con- 
tinuous performance, of 'revolutionary' leaders in Mexico, 
Haiti, and elsewhere in Latin-America, emphasize from different 
angle? the follv and the wrong of a single nation attemrt'ne to 
perform what is essentially a world task. * * * Our fellow- 
countrymen of today must 'think internationally;' that is, they 
must think not 'continentally' in terms of the United States, and 



232 Constitutional Government 



not only in terms of all America, but also in terms of the entire 
family of nations.'' 



MONROE DOCTRINE ARGUED BEFORE POLITICAL SCIENCE ACADEMY. 

That the principle of the Monroe Doctrine is just as much alive 
now as it ever was and that President Monroe's declaration is 
not an "obselete shibboleth," was the trend of discussion at the 
annual meeting of the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science in Philadelphia in April, 1915, which is considering the 
present international relations and obligations of the United 
States. 

Rear Admiral Colby M. Chester urged a concert of action 
among the American republics in a policy of "America for the 
Americans," which he said was indorsed by Admiral George 
Dewey. 

John Barrett, director general of the Pan-American Union, ad- 
vocated a "Pan-American policy," in which each one of the 
twenty American countries should have the same independence 
as the United States, in order to eliminate any sense of fear on 
the part of Central and South American states as to United States 
aggression. 

A. Maurice Low, of London, a British journalist, was intro- 
duced as a speaker who would give the European attitude toward 
the Monroe Doctrine. Mr. Low said it would be easier to ex- 
plain the attitude of Europe if Europe knew what the Monroe 
Doctrine really was. 

He believed a nation that assumes protection over other states 
should also assume the responsibility of seeing that these smaller 
countries carry out their obligations with other nations. 



PRESIDENT Wilson's latin-american policy. 

Latin-America was to see an "emancipation from subordina- 
tion which has been inevitable to foreign enterprises," and in 
gaining that freedom it could rely upon the disinterested friend- 
ship of the United States, and one of the duties of friendship was 
to see, "that from no quarter are material interests made supe- 
rior to human liberty and national opportunity." Do not think, 
he warned, "that questions of the day are mere questions of pol- 
icy and diplomacy. They are shot through with the prin- 
ciples of life. We dare not turn from this principle, that 
morality and not expediency is the thing that must guide us, and 



Constitutional Government 233 



that we will never condone iniquity because it is most convenient 
to do so." 

President Wilson has given us a new interpretation of the 
Monroe Doctrine, was the general comment after the delivery of 
his speech. He made it plain, public men and the Press agreed, 
that even less to be tolerated than political control was financial 
mastership. The Monroe Doctrine recognized the danger of 
European political domination over the Americas, but modern 
conditions had made financial owaiership a greater menace. The 
Monroe Doctrine was a warning to Europe not to attempt col- 
onization, but it did not specifically set forth the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of the United States. That omission President Wil- 
son has supplied. The advantages conferred upon the United 
States by the Monroe Doctrine impose a moral obligation. It is 
the duty of the United States, not alone to protect the political 
entity of Latin-America, but also to preserve its financial inde- 
pendence ; to save it from its own weakness ; to prevent it be- 
coming the victim of concessionaires, whether they be American, 
or European ; to enable Latin-America to be developed without 
selling itself into bondage ; to encourage Latin-x'Vmerica to re- 
spect itself so that it may have the respect of the world. 

That, in substance, is President Wilson's foreign policy. It 
means a new era in Central America. It means that the prin- 
ciple laid down by Mr. Wilson that a revolution is not in itself 
sufficient to confer a valid title to a Presidency will discourage 
revolution, and that future American Presidents will be more 
cautious in recognizing rulers who have substituted force for 
constitutional methods. It means peace where now no peace pre- 
vails. It means, eventually, a contented and prosperous Latin- 
America in whose contentment and prosperity other nations will 
share. Mr. Wilson has placed the relations existing between 
Latin-America and the rest of the world on a different basis 
from those hitherto existing and more in harmony with the en- 
lightened spirit of the age. He has taken a long step forward. 
Under his guidance civilization advances. 



WE MUST NOT RETROGRADE. 

After the world, or what is denominated civilization, has pro- 
gressed to the height attained through so much labor in this 
twentieth century, it becomes every liberal government, especially 
the United States government, to hold what has been gained 
and not to make any backward step. 

A citizen of the United States is subject to the provisions of 
the constitution, and national, state, and municipal laws, but 



234 Constitutional Government 



not to an individual king, czar, or prince, as is the case in many 
other countries. He is not born subordinate to any distinct class 
of men who happen to be born in an artihcially-created, higher 
political or social zone in the nation. Each man and woman 
is a separate entity, independent by nature and the laws of the 
country. No person has any inherited power or control over 
any other individual except perhaps the control for a limited 
period by parents or guardians. 

The constitutions of states and of the national government, 
together with the laws of the country, have been created for the 
protection of citizens, and they are expected and will be com- 
pelled to obey the provisions enacted by these laws and the con- 
stitutions, but no individual ruler inherits the right to demand 
obedience to his individual will outside of, and independent of, 
these constitutions and laws. 

Abraham Lincoln has practically solved the problem of the 
power and utility of a written constitution adapted to a republic, 
or to a representative democracy, and its stability when assailed 
by enemies from within, as was the case in the civil war. Had 
he failed as the executive and commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy, or had the people failed to support him with the 
necessary resources and military power, organized to meet emer- 
gencies in maintaining the constitution in its integrity and the 
Union in its entirety, democratic constitutional government 
would have lost its prestige throughout the world. Now many 
other nations are following out our system of constitutional 
government, based as near as possible on the representative prin- 
ciples, believing from our experience that it is the best form 
of government known, for a people desiring stability, freedom 
and happiness. 

EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH BY JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

It is well to know the history of those magnificent nations 
whose origin is lost in fable, and whose epitaphs were written 
a thousand years ago; but if we cannot know both, it is far 
better to study the history of our own nation, whose origin we 
can trace to the freest and noblest aspirations of the human 
heart — a nation that was formed from the hardest, purest and 
most enduring elements of European civilization — a nation that 
by its faith and courage, has dared and accomplished more for 
the human race in a single century than Europe accomplished 
in the first thousand years of the Christian era. 

Some of our would-be great statesmen and alleged constitu- 
tional experts attempt to enlighten the people by affirming that 
the constitution, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, should 



Constitutional Government 235 



not be changed; and that if not made now in every detail for 
the benefit of the great mass of the people, it should not be 
amended so as to suit the common people, so-called, as they 
are not yet capable of self-government. These wise men claim 
that it was originally intended that a superior or privileged class 
only should be permitted to dominate, and that no restrictions 
should be removed which were contained in the constitution as 
handed down to us by its creators. 

They forget, however, that the people possess the right of 
universal suffrage, and that even if not competent, as these wise 
men allege, to control the government, and shape it to suit their 
wishes by their votes, they do and will control the situation. And 
who is strong enough to deprive them of their suffrage? 

In a letter written April 4, 1864, by Mr. Lincoln to Mr, George 
C. Hodges of Frankfort, Kentucky, he said: "I felt that meas- 
ures otherwise unconstitutional might become lawful by becom- 
ing indispensable to the preservation of the constitution through 
the preservation of the nation." 

Each generation has the power to shape the constitution and 
the laws of the United States to suit its immediate, or future 
requirements, and no individual has the right or possesses the 
power to interfere, no matter how he may regard the ability of 
the people to choose for themselves. 



Constitutional Government 237 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Thirteenth Amendment. 

In 1864 a joint resolution to prohibit slavery in the United 
States was introduced into the House by the Hon. James M. Ash- 
ley of Ohio, and in the Senate by Hon. Charles Sumner of Massa- 
chusetts, and Hon. J. H, Henderson of Missouri. Senator 
Trumbull of Illinois on the judiciary committee, to whom the 
Senate resolutions were referred, reported a substitute for the 
amendment, which was passed in the Senate April, 1864, but 
failed to pass the House. On the last day of January, 1865, the 
House passed the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery 
by vote of 119 to 56, and on the 8th of February it was passed 
in the Senate. It was ratified first by Illinois and by most of the 
Northern states in six months. Secretary Seward announced 
the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, December 
i8th, 1865, as follows: 

Thirty-eighth Congress of the United States of America: At 
the Second Session. Begun and held at the City of Washing- 
ton, on Monday, the fifth day of December, one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty- four. 

A Resolution submitting to the legislatures of the several 
States a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United 
States. 

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds 
of both houses concurring) : That the following article be pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States as an Amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by 
three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and 
purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely: Article 
XIII. Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, 
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any 
place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall 
have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

Schuyler Colfax, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

H. Hamlin, 
Vice-President of the United States, 
and President of the Senate. 



238 Constitutional Government 



Approved February i, 1865. — Abraham Lincoln. 

McClain, in his Constitutional Law in the United States, says : 
"Since the abolition of slavery throughout the United States 
and by the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, this pro- 
vision has ceased to have any practical value, though it doubtless 
applies to apprentices and perhaps might apply to persons con- 
victed of crime in one state and sentenced to labor as punishment 
but who have subsequently escaped to another state :" Page 270. 



FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. 

Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States, at the First ses- 
sion, begun and held at the City of Washington, in the District 
of Columbia, on Monday, the fourth day of December, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty-tive. 

Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States : 

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two- 
thirds of both Houses concurring,) That the following article 
be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an Amend- 
ment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when rati- 
fied by three- fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part 
of the Constitution, namely: 

Article XIV. Section i. All persons born or naturalized in 
the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citi- 
zens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the 
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor 
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop- 
erty, without due process of law ; nor deny to any person within 
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the 
several states according to their respective numbers, counting 
the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians 
not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the 
choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United 
States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial 
officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is 
denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty- 
one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way 
abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, 
the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro- 



Constitutional Government 239 



portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the 
whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such 
State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold 
any ofifice, civil or military, under the United States or under 
any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member 
of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a mem- 
ber of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer 
of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, 
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, 
or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress 
may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disabil- 
ity. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of 
pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection 
or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United 
States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation 
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; 
but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal 
and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by ap- 
propriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

Schuyler Colfax, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
La Fayette S. Foster, 
President of the Senate pro tempore. 
Attest : 

Edwd. McPherson, 

Clerk of tlie House of Representatives. 
J. W. Forney, 

Secretary of the Senate.* 

"The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted on account of fear 
that the negroes recently emancipated from slavery, and who 
prior to the adoption of that amendment had not been uniformly 
regarded as citizens, would be deprived in some of the states of 
their civil rights. But the language of the Amendment goes 
further than to make the negroes citizens, and guarantees to 



♦The fourteenth amendment being declared by a concurrent resolu- 
tion of Congress, adopted July 21, 1868, to have been ratified by "three- 
fourths and more of the several States of the Union," the Secretary 
of State was required duly to promulgate the text. He accordingly 
issued a proclamation, dated July 28, 1868, declaring the amendment 
to have been ratified by thirty of the thirty-six States. 



240 Constitutional Government 



them the privileges and immunities of citizenship. It is un- 
limited in its scope and has been so interpreted." — (Paragraph 
259, McClain's Constitution of the United States). 



THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. 

Fortieth Congress of the United States of America ; at the third 
Session. Begun and held at the city of Washington, on Mon- 
day, the seventh day of December, one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-eight. 

A Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two- 
thirds of both Houses concurring) That the following article 
be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amend- 
ment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when rati- 
fied by three-fourths of said legislatures shall be valid as part 
of the Constitution, namely : 

Article XV. Section i. The right of citizens of the United 
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
States, or by any State on account of race, color, or previous con- 
dition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this 
article by appropriate legislation. 

Schuyler Colfax, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
B. F. Wade, 
President of the Senate pro tempore. 
Attest : 

Edwd. McPherson, 

Clerk of House of Representatives, 
Geo. C. Gorham, 

Secy, of Senate U. S.* 

In most of the southern states, however, where slavery pre- 
viously existed, the negro population is now practically de- 
prived of the right of suffrage given it by the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment, notwithstanding the provision. 

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, if strictly con- 
strued, might be held to prevent the exclusion of the Japanese 
or Chinese from citizenship in the United States. 



*The fifteenth amendment was declared in a proclamation of the 
Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by 
twenty-nine of the thirty-seven States. 



Constitutional Government 241 



It may require restrictions on all immigrants to this country, 
to prevent undesirable persons from landing either on our east- 
ern or western shores, without discrimination between the races. 
An educational qualilication is one point. Loyalty to our gov- 
ernment is another point. The ability to maintain themselves 
unless possessed of means or ability to provide for a living is 
another point. These requirements should be demanded of 
immigrants landing in this country. 

Bills having that purpose are now before the Congress. 



SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT. 

Sixty-first Congress of the United States of America ; at the 
First Session, Begun and held at the City of Washington on Mon- 
day, the fifteenth day of March, one thousand nine hundred and 
nine. 

Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds 
of each House concurring therein), That the following article 
is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, which, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths 
of the several States, shall be val/d to all intents and purposes as 
a part of the Constitution: 

"Article XVI. The Congress shall have power to lay and 
collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without 
apportionment among the several States, and without regard to 
any census or enumeration." 

J. G. Cannon, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

J. S. Sherman, 
Vice-President of the United States and 

President of the Senate. 

Attest : 

A. McDowell, 

Clerk of the House of Representatives. 

Charles G. Bennett, 

Secretary. 

By Henry H. Gilery, 
Chief Clerk. 



242 Constitutional Government 



[indorsement.] 
I certify that this Joint Resolution originated in the Senate. 

Charles G. Bennett, 

Secretary. 
By Henry H. Gilfry, 

Chief Clerk.* 

SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT. 

Sixty-second Congress of the United States of America ; at the 
Second Session. Begun and held at the City of Washington on 
Monday, the fourth day of December, one thousand nine hun- 
dred and eleven. 

Joint Resolution Proposing an amendment to the Constitu- 
tion providing that Senators shall be elected by the people of the 
several States : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of 
each House concurring therein). That in lieu of the first para- 
graph of section three of Article I of the Constitution of the 
United States, and in lieu so much of paragraph two of the 
same section as relates to the filling of vacancies, the following 
be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be 
valid to all intents and purpose? as part of the Constitution when 
ratified bv the legislatures of three-fourths of the States : 

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two 
Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six 
years ; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in 
each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of 
the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. 

"When vacancies happen in the representation of any State 
in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue 
writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the 
legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to 
make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies 
by election as the legislature may direct. 

"This amendment shall not be so construed as to afifect the 
election or term of anv Senator chosen before it becomes valid 
as part of the Constitution." 

Champ Clark. 
Speaker of the House of Renresentatives. 

J. S. Sherman, 
Vice-president of the United States and 

President of the Senate. 



•The sixteenth amendment was declared in a proclamation of the 
Secretary of State, dated February 25, 1913, to have been ratified by 
thirty-eight of the forty-eight States. 



Constitutional Government 243 



[indorsement.] 

I certify that this Joint Resolution originated in the House 
of Representatives. 

South Trimble, 

Clerk.* 

The Seventh Amendment gives the people the right to 
vote direct for senators of the United States, which will do 
away with the abuse of power exercised by the members of 
the state legislature. Rich and powerful corporations that 
wished to have a representative in the Senate to look after their 
interests, have for many years spent large sums of money in 
the state legislatures, in order to have a senator chosen who 
would do their bidding. The result of this was to take the 
selection of the senator, who was supposed to represent an en- 
tire state, away from the people, and place his selection in the 
hands of the monopolist and the beneficiaries of special legisla- 
tion. 

Some of the framers of the Constitution, especially Hamilton, 
were skeptical as to the ability of the people to govern them- 
selves and therefore they thought to remove from the peo- 
ple the election of the members of the upper house. So they 
gave the power to the legislatures of the states to elect the 
senators. The same reasoning was responsible for the election 
of the president by the electoral college. Could Hamilton, 
Jefferson, Washington and Franklin have lived to the present 
day they undoubtedly would declare with one voice that the 
people are in every case better qualified as a body to elect sen- 
ators, and much less liable to corrupting influences, than com- 
binations of men brought together as our present legislatures 
are, with party jealousies, personal ambitions, greed for power, 
place and money ever predominating. 

The evils occasioned by the election of senators in the old 
way were notorious, and cropped out in nearly every state 
in the Union, demonstrating the utter failure of the sys- 
tem to secure good results. Many senators purchased their 
places with cold-blooded contempt for popular disapproval, and 
kept out competent and honest men from the position. After 
thus purchasing their places, they systematically co-onerated with 
corporations and trusts to defeat the will of the people. 

H the people can be relied upon to elect representatives to 
congress for two years, and governors of states and mayors of 
cities, they surely can be trusted to elect United States senators 



•The seventeenth amendment was declared in a proclamation of 
the Secretary of State, dated May 31, 1913, to have been ratified by 
thlrty-Blx of the forty-eight States. 



244 Constitutional Govermnent 

for six years. The quicker they begin doing this the better. 
Thus the state legislatures can employ their time passing needed 
legislation for the people, instead of wrangling over United 
States senatorships and in the sale and barter of votes. 

The more the people are relied upon and trusted in direct 
elections the better they will respond. 

The Referendum. 

It is very probable that another amendment will be added 
to the Constitution providing for the Referendum. If the peo- 
ple desire this, they will have it, no matter what constitutional 
lawyers and politicians may say about their lack of capacity 
to meet the requirements of such a provision. Like the will of 
the Czar of Russia, the will of the majority in this country is 
absolute, no matter who objects to it. It is as safe as the will 
of the Czar or a privileged class in any country. 

Female Suffrage. 

The right of suffrage in the United States should be extended 
to all female citizens over twenty-one years of age on the same 
conditions as it is exercised by male citizens. 

FEDERAL CONTROL OF CHILD LABOR. 

The general government should have full authority through- 
out the United States and their possessions to regulate and pro- 
tect the development and health of children and prevent their en- 
slavement and detrimental employment. 

TEXT OF HOBSON AMENDMENT FOR N.-\TI0N-WIDE PROHIBITION. 

The text of Representative Hobson's proposed amendment to 
the constitution providing for prohibition follows : 

Section i — The sale, manufacture for sale, transportation for 
sale, exportation for sale, and importation for sale of intoxicating 
liquors for beverage purposes in the United States and all ter- 
ritory subject to the jurisdiction thereof are forever prohibited. 

Section 2 — Congress shall have power to provide in favor of 
the manufacture, sale, importation, and transportation of intox- 
icating liquors for sacramental, medicinal, mechanical, pharma- 



Constitutional Government 245 



ceutical, or scientific purposes or for use in the arts, and shall 
have power to enforce this article by all needful legislation. 

The resolution carries a preamble setting forth that science 
has demonstrated alcohol to be narcotic poison and reciting its 
evil effects. 



RESOLUTION TO EXTEND SUFFRAGE TO WOMEN, MAY, I914. 

Joint resolutions proposing amendments to the federal consti- 
tution to extend the right of suffrage to women and for nation- 
wide prohibition were ordered favorably reported without recom- 
mendation to the House by the judiciary committee. This leaves 
both proposals to the House for decision and with prospect that 
votes may be called for. The two measures immediately will be 
put upon the House calendar. The woman suffrage amendment 
was introduced by Representative Mendell of Wyoming. 

It is the first time that a national prohibition question has so 
nearly confronted either branch of Congress, and it is 24 years 
since a woman suft'rage constitutional amendment resolution has 
been reported to House or Senate. 



Constitutional Government 247 



CHAPTER X. 
SWITZERLAND. 

The most interesting constitution outside of the United States 
Constitution, for an American to study, is that of Switzerland. 
It resembles our own in a great many respects but has some 
features which it would be desirable to incorporate into ours. 
One of these is the referendum, which in some cases is comjjul- 
sory. After a law or an act of the Assembly has been passed, 
it is submitted to the people to be ratified or rejected by 
them. This has been found highly satisfactory, and it has been 
demonstrated that it is a much easier way for the people to 
obtain what they want, than to have an election and change 
their representatives. 

Another feature which has been found highly satisfactory 
is the Federal Council. This body is chosen by the Federal As- 
sembly, which has been chosen by the people. At first in the 
United States, between 1800 and 1816, the presidents were nomi- 
nated by caucuses of congressmen, but later they were nominated 
by national conventions. This Council contains seven members, 
and is practically unchangeable, as the old members are nearly 
always reelected. Since 1848, two members only who were 
willing to serve failed to be reelected. Between 1848 and 1893, 
there have been only thirty-one Federal Councilors, seven still in 
office. Fifteen members held the position over ten years, four 
members twenty years, and one member thirty years. Each mem- 
ber is at the head of a separate department. The president, who 
is also elected by the Assembly, holds his office for one year and 
cannot be elected the succeeding year. He acts as chairman. All 
the members of the Council have the right to speak in either 
chamber of the Assembly, of which they avail themselves when- 
ever their presence is required, or indeed, whenever they wish to 
take part in the debate ; but they cannot vote. 

"Swiss democracy * * * flows from two different sources ; 
on the one hand, from certain primitive Germanic institutions, pre- 
served during the Middle Ages by the people of the High Alps; 
on the other, from the principles of the French Revolution, im- 
planted at the close of the last century in the large cantons, and 
which have flourished in a soil long since prepared for them 
by the Reformation. * * * 



248 Constitutional Government 



"From the Germanic tradition proceeds the spirit of local in- 
dependence, the 'cantonalism', from the Latin genius, the idea 
of unity. * * * 

"The first 'Helvetic Constitution' was drawn up in Paris, in 
Nivose, Year VI., upon the model of the constitution of the year 
III. The plan was elaborated at Bonaparte's suggestion, by a 
magistrate from Basel, Peter Ochs, then upon a mission to the 
French government. Ochs held conferences in regard to the 
matter with Lareveillere-Lepaux, Rewdell, and Daunou. * * *" 
(Charles Borgeaud, Constitutions of Europe and America, 1895). 



THE SWISS CONFEDERATION, 

A. Lawrence Lowell, in his admirable work on Governments in 
Continental Europe, on page 185, Vol. 11, says that "the Swiss 
Confederation resembles our own in being a union of states 
possessing equal rights, but the distribution of power between 
those states and the central government is based on quite a dif- 
ferent plan from that which prevails here. On this point 
Switzerland is much more closely akin to Germany than to 
America; for instead of assigning ta the federal and state 
governments separate spheres of action, the Swiss, like the Ger- 
mans, have combined legislative centralization with administra- 
tive decentralization, the federal laws being carried out as a rule 
by the cantonal authorities." "The Swiss Confederation is, on 
the whole, the most successful democracy in the world. Unlike 
almost every other state in Europe, it has no irreconcilables — the 
only persons in its territory who could in any sense be classed 
under that name being a mere handful of anarchists, and these, 
as in our own land, are foreigners. The people are contented. 
The government is patriotic, far-sighted, efficient and economical, 
steady in its policy, not changing its course with party fluctua- 
tions. Corruption in public life is almost unknown, and appoint- 
ments to office are not made for political purposes by the federal 
authorities, or by those of most of the Cantons. Officials are 
selected on their merits, and retained as long as they can do their 
work, and yet the evils of bureaucracy scarcely exist. All this 
bears witness to the capacity of the Swiss for self-government, 
and to the integrity and statesmanship of their rulers." Page 334. 

"Athens, like Switzerland, was at one time a democracy. In 
the time of Demosthenes questions of peace and war, army and 
fleet, and questions of finance were placed in the hands of an 
assembly of the people which handled them directly as far as pos- 
sible or by means of a committee chosen for short periods by lot," 

The President of the Swiss Republic wrote: "Switzerland, 



Constitutional Govermnent 249 



from the sincere sympathy which she has for the Union, looks 
with anxiety upon the issue of events which now shake that 
country. Switzerland passed through a similar crisis fourteen 
years ago, which threatened to tear asunder the then loose con- 
nection of the twenty-two cantons. But renewed, rose the pres- 
ent confederation from that tempest, strengthened internally 
and abroad, she now stands there esteemed by the nations. May 
God grant that the United States of America may also emerge 
renewed and strengthened out of this crisis." 

The Constitution of Switzerland, made in 1848, was amended 
in 1874, and the powers of the federal authorities was increased 
by another constitution, which has been amended from time to 
time. For full particulars of the Swiss Confederation, see "Com- 
parison of Swiss and United States Political Institutions," by 
Sir Francis Ottwell Adams, K. C, M. A., C. B. ; and C. D. Con- 
ningham. This contains translation of Constitution of Switzer- 
land. See also "The Governments of Continental Europe," by 
Frederic Austin Ogg, 1913; and "Modern Constitution" by Wal- 
ter F. Dodd. 

Professor Frederic Austin Ogg says : "The adoption of the 
constitution of 1848 ensured a modified revival of the govern- 
mental regime of 1798- 1803, comprising a distinct victory for the 
Radical or Centralist party. During the two decades which fol- 
lowed, this party maintained complete control of the federal gov- 
ernment, and in 1872 it brought forward the draft of a new con- 
stitution whose centralizing tendencies were still more pro- 
nounced. By popular vote this proposed constitution was re- 
jected. Another draft however was proposed and April 19, 1874. 
By a vote of 14^^ Cantons against 7>4 it was adopted. The 
popular vote was 340,149 to 198,013. 

"As a recent writer has said, 'the one region on the continent 
to which the storms of 1848 brought immediate advantage was 
Switzerland, for to them it owes its transformation into a well- 
organized federal state." — (W. Oechsli, in Cambridge Modern 
History, XI, 234.) 

"The Federal Tribunal, which corresponds with our Supreme 
Court, is unlike the latter in one important point, namely: it 
is bound by an express provision of the constitution to apply 
every law passed by the Federal Assembly [See Art. I., 113]. 
"It has, therefore, none of the peculiar authority vested in the 
Supreme Court of holding statutes unconstitutional, and none of 
the exalted dignity which that authority conveys," says A. Law- 
rence Lowell. 

In the Standard Oil case, the Supreme Court of the United 
States, in its desire to overthrow and nullify an act of Congress, 



250 Constitutional Government 



took the unwarranted liberty of interpreting an act of Congress 
by the "rule of reason" instead of literally. 

So in the Dred Scott case, Judge Taney's definition and status 
of a negro was not justified by any express statement in the 
constitution. He also took the position that slavery could be 
extended into the Territories, or was not excluded from the 
Territories by anything that the constitution contained. 

The powers granted to the Supreme Court, under our con- 
stitution, are too great for a republican form of government, 
which is formed to carry out the will of an independent people. 
The government rests in the people and it should not be claimed 
that it rests in a body of men appointed for life, who are given 
the power to set aside the laws enacted by the representatives of 
the people. This tends to an oligarchical form of government. 

"The sovereignty of the Cantons resides in the people of each 
Canton and at the commencement of their constitution words 
clearly enunciating this principle are inserted. According to the 
first article of the constitution which Zurich adopted in 1869, the 
power of the state rests upon the totality of the people, and is 
exercised directly through the vote-possessing citizen [Aktiv- 
buerger] and indirectly through the authorities and officials." 

"The constitution of 181 5, which restored to the cantons al- 
most all of their former independence, continued in force until 
1848." 

CONSTITUTION OF THE SWISS CONFEDERATION. 
(May 29, 1874.) 

IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY GOD: 

The Swiss Confederation, desiring to confirm the alliance 
of the Confederates, to maintain and to promote the unity, 
strength, and honor of the Swiss nation, has adopted the follow- 
ing federal constitutions: 

CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Article i. The peoples of the twenty-two sovereign cantons 
of Switzerland, united by this present alliance, viz. : Zurich, Bern, 
Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (Upper and Lower), Glarus, 
Zug, Freiburg, Solothurn, Basel (urban and rural) Schaff- 
hausen, Appenzell (the two Rhodes), St. Gallen, Grisons, 
Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchatel, and Geneva, 
form in their entirety the Swiss Confederation. 



Constitutional Government 251 



Article 2. The purpose of the GDnfedcration is, to secure 
the independence of the country against foreign nations, to 
maintain peace and order within, to protect the Uberty and 
the rights of the Confederates, and to foster their common wel- 
fare. 

Article 3. The cantons are sovereign, so far as their sov- 
ereignty is not Hmited by the federal constitution ; and, as such, 
they exercise all the rights which are not delegated to the federal 
government. 

Article U. All Swiss are equal before the law. In Switzer- 
land there are neither political dependents, nor privileges of 
place, birth, person, or family. 

Article 5. The Confederation guarantees to the cantons their 
territory, their sovereignty within the limits fixed by Art. 3, 
their constitutions, the liberty and rights of the people, the con- 
stitutional rights of citizens, the rights and powers which the 
people have conferred upon those in authority. 

Article 14. In case of differences arising between cantons, 
the states shall abstain from violence and from arming them- 
selves ; they shall submit to the decision to be taken upon such 
differences by the Confederation. 

Article 15. In case of sudden danger of foreign attack, the 
authorities of the threatened canton shall request the aid of 
other members of the Confederation and shall immediately notify 
the federal government ; the subsequent action of the latter shall 
not thereby be precluded. The cantons summoned are bound to 
give aid. The expenses shall be borne by the Confederation. 

Article 18. Every Swiss is bound to perform military service. 

Soldiers who lose their lives or suft'er permanent injury to 
their health, in consequence of federal service, are entitled to aid 
from the Confederation, for themselves or their families, in case 
of need. 

Each soldier shall receive without expense his first equipment, 
clothing and arms. The arms shall remain in the hands of the 
soldier, under conditions which shall be prescribed by federal 
legislation. 

The Confederation shall enact uniform provisions as to a tax 
for exemption from military service. 

Article 19. The federal army shall be composed: 

(a) Of the cantonal military corps. 

{h) Of all Swiss who do not belong to such military corps, 
but who are nevertheless liable to military service. 

The Confederation exercises control over the army and the 
material of war provided by law. 

In cases of danger, the Confederation shall also have the ex- 



252 Constitutional Government 



elusive and direct control of men not included in the federal 
army, and of all other military resources of the cantons. 

The cantons shall have authority over the military forces of 
their territory, so far as this right is not limited by the federal 
constitution or laws. 

Article 20. The laws on the organization of the army shall be 
enacted by the Confederation. The enforcement of military laws 
in the cantons shall be intrusted to the cantonal officials, within 
limits which shall be fixed by federal legislation, and under the 
supervision of the Confederation. 

Military instruction of every kind shall be under the control of 
the Confederation. The same applies to the equipment of troops. 

The furnishing and maintenance of clothing and equipment 
shall be within the power of the cantons ; but the cantons shall be 
credited with the expenses therefor, according to a regulation to 
be established by federal legislation. 

Article 21. So far as military reasons do not prevent, corps of 
troops shall be formed from soldiers of the same canton. 

The composition of these bodies of troops, the maintenance 
of their effective strength, the appointment and promotion of 
their officers shall belong to the cantons, subject to general regu- 
lations which shall be issued to them by the Confederation. 

Note: The military organization law of April 12, 1907, im- 
poses the obligation to perform military service upon every male 
Swiss citizen between the ages of twenty and forty-eight years. 

Article 22. Upon the payment of a reasonable compensation, 
the Confederation shall have the right to use or acquire drill- 
grounds and buildings intended for military purposes, within the 
cantons, together with the appurtenances thereto. 

The method of fixing the compensation shall be settled by fed- 
eral legislation. 

Note: (under Art. 24): The utilization of hydraulic power 
is placed under the supervision of the Confederation. With ref- 
erence to the proper utilization of hydraulic power and with ref- 
erence to the transmission and distribution of electric power, fed- 
eral legislation shall provide the general regulations necessary 
to safeguard the public interests. With the reservation of such 
regulation, the cantons shall have power to regulate the exploit- 
ation of hydraulic power. 

Article 5/. The freedom of trade and of industry is guar- 
anteed throughout the whole extent of the Confederation. The 
following subjects are excepted: 

(c) (Drinking-places, and the retail trade in spirituous li- 
quors, in order that the cantons may by legislation subject the 
business of keeping drinking-places, and the retail trade in 



Constitutional Government 253 



spirituous liquors, to such restrictions as may be required for 
the pubHc welfare). 

Note: The manufacture, importation, transportation, sale, 
or keeping for the purpose of sale, of the distilled liquor known 
under the name of absinthe is forbidden throughout the whole 
extent of the Confederation. 

Article 32. The net proceeds to the Confederation from the 
manufacture of alcohol, and from the corresponding increase 
of the duty on imported alcohol, shall be divided among all the 
cantons, in proportion to their actual population as established 
by the most recent federal census. Out of the receipts there- 
from the cantons must expend not less than one-tenth in com- 
bating drunkenness in its causes and effects.) 

Article 36. The posts and telegraphs in all Switzerland shall 
be controlled by the Confederation. 

The proceeds of the posts and telegraphs shall belong to the 
federal treasury. 

Article 41. The manufacture and sale of gunpowder through- 
out Switzerland shall belong exclusively to the Confederation. 

Article 50. The free exercise of religion is guaranteed, within 
limits compatible with public order and good morals. The 
Cantons and the Confederations may take the measures neces- 
sary for the preservation of public order and of the peace between 
the members of different religious bodies; and also against 
encroachments of ecclesiastical authorities upon the rights of 
citizens of the State. 

Article ^2. The foundation of new convents or religious 
orders, or the re-establishment of those which have been sup- 
pressed, is forbidden. 

Children born before marriage are made legitimate by the 
subsequent marriage of their parents. 

Article 55. The freedom of the press is guaranteed. 

Article dp. (ii) The Confederation shall have the power 
to enact laws : 

(a) Concerning traffic in food products. 

(b) Concerning traffic in other articles of use and consump- 
tion, in so far as they may be dangerous to life and health., etc. 

Article 70. The Confederation may expel from its terri- 
tory foreigners who endanger the internal or external safety of 
Switzerland. 



254 Constitutional Government 



CHAPTER II. PBDBRAL AUTHORITIES. 

I. Federal Assembly. 

Article 71. With the reservation of the rights of the people 
and of the cantons (Arts. 89 and 121), the supreme authority 
of the Confederation shall be exercised by the Federal Assembly, 
which shall consist of two sections or councils, to wit: 

A. The National Council; 

B. The Council of States. 

A. National Council. 

Article 72. The National Council shall consist of representa- 
tives of the Swiss people, chosen in the ratio of one member 
for each 20,000 persons of the total population. Fractions of 
upwards of 10,000 persons shall be reckoned as 20,000. 

Every canton, and in the divided cantons every half-canton, 
shall choose at least one representative. 

Article 73. The elections for the National Council shall be 
direct. They shall be held in federal electoral districts, which in 
no case shall be formed out of parts of different cantons. 

Article 74. Every Swiss who has completed twenty years of 
age, and who in addition is not excluded from the rights of a 
voter by the legislation of the canton in which he resides, shall 
have the right to vote in elections and popular votes. 

B. Council of States. 

Article 80. The Council of States shall consist of forty- four 
representatives of the cantons. Each canton shall appoint two 
representatives; in the divided cantons, each half-canton shall 
choose one. 

Article 81. The members of the National Council and those 
of the Federal Council may not be representatives in the Coun- 
cil of States. 

Article 82. The Council of States shall choose from among 
its own members a president and a vice-president for each 
regular or extraordinary session. 

C. Powers of the Federal Assembly. 

Article 84. The National Council and the Council of States 
shall consider the subjects which the present constitution places 
within the competence of the Confederation and which are not 
assigned to any other federal authority. 

The act of June 27, 1874, gives the Federal Tribunal power to 
hold a Cantonal law invalid on account of being contrary to 
the constitution. Conflicts of jurisdiction between a Federal 



i 



Constitutional Government 255 

Tribunal and a Cantonal authority are decided by the Federal 
Tribunal itself. Conflicts between the Federal Council and the 
Federal Tribunal are decided by the Federal Assembly. [Consti- 
tution Art. 85, Par. 13.] 

In regard to the growth of authority of national government, 
see collection of Cantonal Constitutions published by the federal 
government in 1890. 

Article 93. Measures may originate in either Council, and 
may be introduced by any of their members. 

The cantons may by correspondence exercise the same right. 

Note: On March 6, 1906, the Federal Council presented to 
the Federal Assembly a project for the revision of the consti- 
tution extending popular initiative to federal legislation. This 
project was debated in the National Council in December, 1906, 
and was referred back to the Federal Council for a further 
report; it will probably be adopted in substance if not in the 
exact form as proposed. The project of the Federal Council 
adds two articles to the constitution, between Arts. 93 and 94, 
and reads as follows : 

Art. 93 (ii). Fifty thousand Swiss voters or eight cantons 
shall have the right to demand the passage, modification, or re- 
peal of a federal law, as well as the modification or repeal of 
a federal decree of general application. 



LL. Federal Council. 

Article 95. The supreme directive and executive authority 
of the Confederation shall be exercised by a Federal Council, 
composed of seven members. 

Article g6. The members of the Federal Council shall be 
chosen from three years, by the National Council and Council 
of States in Joint session, from among all the Swiss nations 
eligible to the National Council. But not more than one member 
of the Federal Council shall be chosen from the same canton. 

From Article g8. The president of the confederation and 
the vice-president of the Federal Council shall be chosen for 
one year by the Federal Assembly, from among the members 
of the Council. The retiring president shall not be chosen as 
president or vice-president for the ensuing year. 

Article loi. The members of the Federal Council shall have 
the right to speak, but not to vote, in both houses of the Federal 
Assembly, and also to the right to make motions on the subject 
under consideration. 



256 Constitutional Government 



III. Federal Chanceli^ERy. 

Article 105. A Federal Chancellery, at the head of which is 
placed the chancellor of the Confederation, shall perform the 
duties of secretary for the Federal Assembly and the Federal 
Council. 

The chancellor shall be chosen by the Federal Assembly for 
the term of three years, at the same time as the Federal Council. 



IV. Feder.\l Court. 

Article 106. There shall be a Federal Court for the adminis- 
tration of justice in Federal Matters. 

There shall, furthermore, be a jury for criminal cases. (Art. 
LL2.) 

Article 107. The members and alternates of the Federal 
Court shall be chosen by the Federal Assembly, which shall 
take care that all three national languages are represented 
therein. 

CHAPTER III. AMENDMENT OF THE FEDERAL 
CONSTITUTION. 

Article 118. The federal constitution may at any time be 
amended, in whole or in part. 

Article 12 t. Partial revision may take place either by popular 
initiative or in the manner provided for the passage of federal 
laws. 

The popular initiative shall consist of a petition of fifty thou- 
sand Swiss voters for the adoption of a new article or for the 
abrogation or amendment of specified articles of the consti- 
tution. 

(In the preparation of this text assistance has been received 
from the translation made by Professor A. B. Hart and issued 
in "Old South Leaflets", No. 18, and from that of Professor E. 
J. James, Philadelphia, 1890. Walter Fairleigh Dodd). 
The constitution is not given in full, but only its more prominent 
features. See Modern Constitution by Walter F. Dodd for en- 
tire text. 

THE LANDSGEMEINDE. 

"This institution which resembles the old New England town 
meeting, is a survival of the primitive Teutonic folk-note, and 
still exists in two cantons and four half-cantons." 



Constitutional Government 257 



"On a Sunday morning in May, the Landamman, or Chief 
Magistrate of the Canton, accompanied by attendants, dressed 
in the black and yellow livery of Uri, and bearing the huge 
horns of a wild bull, starts for the meadow, followed by all the 
people. When the procession reaches the spot, the Landamman 
takes his seat at a table in the center of the field, while the 
men fill the space around him, and the women and children stand 
upon the rising ground beyond. 

"The measures to be proposed are brought forward, freely de- 
bated and voted upon by the citizens, and finally the officers are 
elected for the ensuing year. 

"The form of the proceeding is similar to that of the New 
England Town Meeting and must have the same value as a 
means of political education." — A. Lawrence Lowell, Vol. ii, 
page 222 ; Adams, page 130-32. 

In the Landesgeminde Cantons, all powers are exercised by the 
assembly of citizens, meeting at fixed times in veritable Champs 
de Mai. Any member of the Landesgeminde has the right to 
present any bill. This is the first and most essential of his pre- 
rogatives. It is restricted simply by the necessity of presenting 
the petition in time to get it upon the order of the day (Memo- 
rial), which must be published in advance. Sometimes a small 
number of signatures is required. 

In 1869, the Grand Council of Zurich ceased to exist, or at 
least ceased to possess legislative power and the people declared 
in their new constitution that they would exercise the power 
themselves, with the assistance of a cantonal council (Kantons- 
rath). This sanction of the principle of direct legislation was 
not followed by the introduction of the Landesgeminde. Such 
an institution cannot be suddenly created. In order to realize the 
great industrial and agricultural canton the advantages which the 
citizens of the forest canton were seen to possess recourse was 
had to the obligatory referendum and the right of popular initia- 
tive. It was provided that the laws whose preparation was 
given to Kantonsrath, should all be submitted to the people for 
approval, and that the right to propose new ones or to move the 
abrogation of existing provisions should belong to the voters as 
well as their representatives." — Charles Borgeaud, Constitutions 
in Europe and America, 1895. 

SWITZERLAND THE PORCUPINE OF EUROPE. 

Lieut. Frederick Kuenzli, late of the Swiss army, gives the 
following account of the Swiss military system: Switzerland 
does not want war, and, therefore, created a system of defense 
that keeps her immune from attack by a neighboring nation. 



258 Constitutional Government 



Germany, France, Italy and Austria know that the Swiss sys- 
tem and Army is not only theoretically a good defensive system, 
but also a practical one, or else what would keep the millions of 
French and Italians from going through Switzerland and hitting 
at the most vital parts of Germany? Or what, if not the Swiss 
Army, keeps the Germans from hurling their armies by the good 
roads of Switzerland to France and Italy? That none of the four 
nations at war that hem in the little Alpine republic dares to 
make Switzerland the link to get at the other, like unfortunate 
Belgium was made, is a tacit admittance of the practical merit 
of Helvetia's military system and army. 

The introduction of the "Infantry Drill Regulations of the 
United States Army" reads: "Success in battle is the ultimate 
object of all military training, success may be looked for only 
when the training is intelligent and thorough." 

Thorough and intelligent military training is exactly what the 
Swiss training system offers to her male population, and the 
efficient and uniform way in which the young Swiss is educated 
to defend his property, his liberties and pursuance of happiness, 
must bring success if he is put to the test. Switzerland tries to 
make her sons well-disciplined soldiers and good marksmen. 
Thanks to the training in schools, cadet corps and preparatory 
courses, 70 per cent, of the Swiss that enter the service are al- 
ready physically well-trained men and competent marksmen. 
To acquire discipline the young man is made to grow into it by 
a system of physical training that forms a part of the school ed- || 

ucation. The great educator, Henry Pestalozzi, pointed the way ^ 

for physical exercises that were to correspond to the physiolog- 
ical and natural development of the boy. In his educational 
operations Pestalozzi always regarded the child as an indissoluble 
whole, an organized unit, endowed with manifold faculties of 
body, mind and heart, and thought that the development of the 
one was inseparable from the true evolution of the others and 
must be mutual. 

The best form of the needed physical exercises for boys and 
in the meantime a great help to learn discipline, was found to be 
the exercises as contained in the military drill regulations of the 
Swiss Army. Therefore, the whole physical training of the 
Swiss boy in school, which begins at his tenth year and extends 
to the year he leaves school has as a basis the "Infantry Drill of 
the Army." There is only one manual, only one primer for the 
whole physical training in school and that is edited by the Swiss 
War Department. Needless to say that such a uniform, thor- 
ough drilling for six years, followed by instructions in cadet 
corps and preparatory courses makes the young man a very prom- 
ising soldier. When he enters service as a recruit he is thorough- 



C Gnstitutional Government 259 



ly acquainted as to the individual work he has to perform in his 
team, the work has become his second nature and automatically 
he executes the commands that are so familiar to his ear. He 
is a willing receiver for all advice and training tliat make him 
a finished soldier, efficient to take the tield Vv'ith hundreds of thou- 
sands of his comrades, all burning with the common spirit "One 
for all, all for one." 

Along with the physical training in school goes the military 
training in cadet corps, when tlie boy is trained to become a har- 
dened marcher and a good shot. The cadet wears a uniform and 
has a miniature model of the regulation rifle. He goes through 
the same instructions and rifle practices as the soldier and ob- 
serves the standard exercises of the army. 

Every Swiss soldier in his civil life is compelled to be a mem- 
ber of a rifle club, under the supervision of which he has to un- 
dergo a yearly rifle shooting test, consisting of six times six or 
thirty six shots with a minimum of 75 per cent, hits and 60 per 
cent, points. Such an ordinance compels every village and town 
to have a field range in which the cadet and the man in prepar- 
atory course can practice to his heart's content. 

This, the preparation of the boy from his tenth to his twenti- 
eth year, is the system that can readily be transplanted to our 
country. The compulsory service system is something that for 
dozens of reasons we cannot adopt as a whole. History, geo- 
graphical position, a groundstanding population of 4,000,000 
enabled Switzerland to create a system that could not be intro- 
duced in a reasonable time to 100,000,000 of a migrating popula- 
tion. 

Let us have a larger standing army and "a citizenry trained 
and accustomed to arm.s" by a voluntary system and all the de- 
mands for our land forces of national defense are fulfilled. 

To say that the military training in school along the lines of 
the Swiss system fosters martial spirit to the sacrifice of other 
lines of endeavor is ridiculous, as Switzerland today is a verit- 
able hive of industry and commerce, and has as well means to 
protect those pursuits from destruction by an invading foe. 
When did we hear from Switzerland that the profession of the 
civil life of the inhabitants was ever in danger of being domin- 
ated by the desire of a frivolous war? Who wants to say that 
our boys in public school ?re overburdened with hours of school? 
Five hours a day for 180 days a year should certainly not forbid 
three more hours a week for their countrv's good and "for mere 
health's sake, if nothing more," as Woodrow Wilson says. 

The above is the statement of a trained Swiss soldier who is 
is now a loyal citizen of the United States. 



Constitutional Government 261 



CHAPTER XL 
PORTUGAL. 

the; revolution of the 5Th of octobfr. 

The Revolution of October 5, 1910, which overthrew the 
monarchical regime in Portugal, was merely the outcome of an- 
other revolution on the 31st of January, 1891. On this date the 
Republican forces in Oporto, jointly with the parties in Coimbra 
and Lisbon, had planned a general uprising to take place on the 
same day and hour. Due to some mysterious cause the wires be- 
tween Oporto, Coimbra and Lisbon were cut and the Revolu- 
tionists could not get word to one another so as to give the date 
and the hour for the uprising. Consequently the forces at 
Oporto came out on the 31st of January, while their allies in the 
other cities were absolutely ignorant of this move. The result 
of this was the defeat of the Republican forces by the Municipal 
Guard and the absolute failure of the first Republican uprising. 
However the Republicans did not remain idle. For twenty years 
they worked, rallying their forces and holding their followers 
in check, so as to prevent any false move that would again wreck 
their hopes. 

Another movement was planned for the third of October of 
19 10 in which the military forces of the city of Lisbon, together 
with the people, were to come out and once more fight for that 
liberty which was denied them. But once more it seemed as 
if the Revolution must be delayed, for on the morning of the 
day set for this outbreak, their leader. Dr. Miguel Bombarda, 
the man who had worked and planned to make it a success, was 
assassinated by a lunatic. However this did not hold them back, 
for another man who had assisted Dr. Bombarda in his work, 
took upon himself the leadership of the Revolutionary forces. 
A few hours before the first shot was fired, the new leader. 
Vice Admiral Candido dos Reis, was found dead in front of his 
residence. It seemed as if everything was working against this 
movement. It seemed as if some hidden power was warning 
them not to carry out their plans. But the people of Portugal 
had suffered too long the tyrannical acts of the monarchy, the 
errors of every day. They could not wait any longer and on the 
night of 3rd of October the i6th Infantry, together with the 1st 



262 Constitutional Government 



Artillery and a body of people, marched to the Avenida da 
Liberdade, and there awaited the attack of the Municipal Guard, 
loyal to the old regime, and which was the greatest menace to the 
cause. 

The two cruisers, S. Raphael and Adamastor, stationed in 
the harbor, had pledged their assistance to the Republican cause, 
and upon being notified of this movement, they began, several 
hours after, cannonading the Royal Palace and other important 
points where the Royalist troops v/ere sheltered. The people 
came from all sides, some armed, others waiting for the first 
attack to take the arms they needed from the fallen. It was 
not a fight between the military, but one in which the people 
shared the danger and fought bravely for their principles. 
Credit must be given to the Naval Commissioner, Mr. Antonio 
A. Machado dos Santos, who directed the building and defense of 
the barricade in the Avenida da Liberdade. Here was waged 
the greatest fight for supremacy. The Rocio had been oc- 
cupied by the 5th Infantry and another regiment and further 
up the avenue the Artillery watched for the Royalist forces. 
From Queluz came several batteries of rapid fire guns. These 
were sTill loyal to the old regime, but were insufficient, for 
hemmed in from all sides they fought on bravely during three 
days. On the morning of the 5th the cruiser D. Carlos, which 
up to then had been faithful to the monarchy, pulled down the 
blue and white of the king and hoisted in its place the green 
and red of the Republicans. A mighty cheer went up, for im- 
mediately after, aided by the three cruisers in the harbor, the 
Republican troops forced the surrender of the Royalist regi- 
ments and the Republic was finally planted firmly on Portuguese 
soil. 

The king in his palace was anxiously waiting for an oppor- 
tunity to come out and lead his forces, but his ministers held him 
back. He did not understand the crisis. He did not see that 
his counselors exploited his symbol, that they used his crown as 
a pawn in the game they played for riches and personal power. 
Educated in a Jesuitic medium, his surroundings closed his eyes 
to the sufi'ering of his people. His nobles and his counselors had 
lost faith in the past, and they fled when danger seemed near. 
They fled, leaving him alone to face that mighty avalanche of 
popular indignation. But the Republicans were not fighting the 
king. They were fighting a religious power, which had such a 
hold in the whole nation that its word was law. This was 
the true cause of the Revolution, for while this power lasted the 
people would always be kept in ignorance. The king, just as 
his forefathers, had always furthered the interests of this relig- 
ious sect. Blinded by the things he had been taught to believe 



Constitutional Government 263 



in, driven by the queen mother to give his all to this religious 
power, he did not realize the errors of every day, the tyrannical 
acts of the monarchy. Strengthened by that blind faith, by that 
fictitious power which he believed would help him in his hour 
of need, he drove to his doom, and on the 5th of October, 1910, 
five hours after the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal, 
he was escorted with his court, by a platoon of cavalry to the 
harbor, where he took a poor fisherman's boat to the yacht 
Amelia, which immediately sailed for Gibraltar. It is well to 
say here that the king did not leave a pauper, for he received 
from the Republican Government the value of his properties 
and lands in Portugal. With the fall of the monarchy, the sep- 
aration of church and state became a reality and this series of 
events lead us to the promulgation of the Political Constitution 
of the Portuguese Republic which is given in the following pages. 

A. C. COURREGE. 



POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE PORTUGUESE 

REPUBLIC 

Promnlgated by Decree of 21 of August of 1911 

TRANSLATED BY A. C. C. COURRAGE. 



The National Constituent Assembly, having sanctioned 
unanimously in its session of 19 of June, 191 1, the Revolution of 
5 of October, 19 10, and confirming its unbroken faith in the 
superior destinies of the Nation, under a regime of liberty and 
justice, enacts, decrees and promulgates, in the name of liberty 
and justice, the following Political Constitution of the Portu- 
guese Republic. 

TITLE I 

Form of Government and Territory of the Portuguese Nation. 

Article i The Portuguese Nation organized in a Unitary 
State, adopts as form of government the Republic, in the terms 
given under this Constitution. 

Article 2 The territory of the Portuguese Nation comprises 
all of the pre-existing territory up to the date of the proclama- 
tion of the Republic. 

Par. The nation does not renounce the rights it may have 
in any territory or that it may acquire in the future. 



264 Constitutional Government 



TITLE II 

Individual rights and guarantees. 

Article 3 The Constitution guarantees to Portuguese citi- 
zens and foreigners residing in the country the inviolability of 
rights of liberty, individual safety and property in the following 
manner : 

1 No citizen shall be compelled to do or refrain from doing 
anything except by virtue of law. 

2 The law shall be equal for all, but only that which is 
enacted under the terms of this Constitution is inviolable. 

3 The Portuguese Republic does not admit privileges of 
birth or patent letters of nobility, repeals all council and nobiliary 
titles, and honorary orders, with all their prerogatives and re- 
galias. 

4 Civic deeds and military acts may be rewarded with spe- 
cial diplomas. 

A Portuguese citizen cannot accept foreign decorations. 

5 The State recognises the political and civil equality of all 
creeds and guarantees their practice within the limits compatible 
with public order, laws and good habits, as long as they do not 
offend the principles of Portuguese public rights. 

6 No one shall be prosecuted for their religion nor ques- 
tioned as to which they profess by any authority. 

7 No one can, because of religious opinion, be deprived of 
a right, nor refuse to discharge any civic duty. 

8 The public cult of any religion may be held in the build- 
ings chosen for that purpose or so designated by their different 
followers, and they may always take the outward form of a 
temple ; but in the interest of public order and liberty and safety 
of citizens, a special law will regulate the conditions of its 
practice. 

9 The public cemeteries will have a secular character, 
therefore it is free for all religious cults to practice their re- 
spective rites, as long as they do not offend the public moral, 
the principles of the Portuguese public right and the law. 

10 The education given in the public and private estab- 
lishments fiscalized by the State shall be neutral in religious 
matters. 

11 Primary education shall be compulsory and free. 

12 The legislation that ended and dissolved in Portugal 
the "Companhia de Jesus" and its affiliated societies, no matter 
what their denomination, shall always be in force and all other 
religious congregations and monastic orders shall never again 
be admitted in Portuguese territory. 

13 All persons shall have the right of liberty of speech, 



Constitutional Government 265 



and they shall not be liable to censure or have to obtain previous 
authorization, but the abuse of this right is punishable in such 
cases and in such manner as the law determines. 

14 All persons shall have the right of reunion and associa- 
tion, but special laws shall determine the manner and conditions 
of its exercise. 

15 The house of every citizen is an inviolable refuge. At 
night no one shall enter it except with his permission, or in case 
of request from within, or to help the victims of crimes or dis- 
asters. During the day no house shall be entered, except in such 
cases and in the manner provided by law. 

16 No person shall be arrested without first being indicted, 
unless he be detected in the act and for the following; high 
treason, falsification of coins, of national banks' bills and titles 
of the Portuguese public debt, voluntary homicide, domestic 
theft, theft, fraudulent bankruptcy or arson. 

17 No one shall be taken to prison, or being in prison, shall 
be retained there, if he will furnish proper bail, in such cases 
as the law will permit. 

18 Except when an offender is taken in the act, no one 
shall be arrested unless upon the written order of the proper 
authority and in comformity with the express disposition of the 
law. 

19 No one shall be imprisoned for nonpayment of costs 
or stamps. 

20 The instructions of the judge in criminal cases shall 
be unbiased, assuring the offender, before and after the procedure 
of the trial, all the guarantees of a fair defense. 

21 No person shall be sentenced except by competent au- 
thority, by virtue of a pre-existing law and in the manner pre- 
scribed by such law. 

22 The penalty of death cannot be passed in any case, nor 
perpetual corporal penalties or of unlimited duration. 

23 No penalty shall extend beyond the person of the 
offender, therefore there shall be no confiscation of goods, nor 
shall the infamy of the offender extend to his relatives in any 
degree. 

24 The right of revision of all condemnatory sentences is 
guaranteed exclusively for the benefit of the person condemned. 

Par. Special laws shall determine the cases and manner of 
revision. 

25 The right of property is guaranteed except beyond the 
limits established by law. 

26 The right to exercise any kind of labor, culture or com- 
merce is guaranteed except in cases where it is restricted by 
law for public utility. 



266 Constitutional Government 



Par. Only the Legislative Power and Administrative Corps 
in the cases recognized as public utility, shall confer the ex- 
clusive right of any commercial or industrial exploitation. 

27 No one is compelled to pay contributions which have 
not been voted by the Legislative Power or Administrative Corps, 
legally authorized to enact them, and the collection of which is 
not made in the manner prescribed by the law. 

28 The secrecy of correspondence is inviolable. 

29 The right of public assistance is recognized. 

30 Every citizen may present to the Legislative or Execu- 
tive Authorities, claims, complaints, or petitions, or expose any 
violation of the Constitution, and without the necessity of pre- 
vious authorization, may require that the proper authorities make 
effective the responsibility of the offenders. _ _ . 

31 Habeas Corpus shall be granted whenever the indi- 
vidual suffers or is in eminent danger of suffering violence or 
coercion, because of illegality or abuse of power. 

The guarantee of Habeas Corpus shall only be suspended in 
such cases as, a state of riot, rebellion, conspiracy or foreign 
invasion. 

A special law shall regulate the extension of this guarantee 
and its process. 

32 The position of any employee of the State, administra- 
tive bodies or companies, having contracts with the State, is 
guaranteed, with its inherent rights, during military service to 
which they may be compelled. 

33 The civil status of citizens and their registration shall 
be under the exclusive supervision of the civil authorities. 

34 If any criminal sentence is enforced, and it shall after- 
wards be proved, by competent legal means, that the condem- 
nation was unjust, the condemned or his heirs, shall have the 
right of suing for damages and loss, and after sentence being 
passed under the terms of law, the damages shall be paid by the 
National Treasury. 

35 Except in the cases named by law, no one, even though 
they be in an abnormal state of their mental faculties, shall be 
deprived of their personal liberty, without previously having 
judicial authorization, unless it be a case of immediate necessity, 
duly proved and for which shall be necessary, immediate judicial 
comfirmation. 

36 Any person interned or held in an in^^ane asylum, may 
himself, or legal representative, or any relative, or friend, at 
any time, require the judge to make the necessary investigations, 
and grant his liberty if the case so requires, 

37 It shall be lawful for all citizens to resist any order 



Constitutional Government 267 



that threatens their individual guarantees, if they are not legally 
suspended. 

38 None of the Powers of State can separate, or con- 
junctively, suspend the Constitution, or restrict the rights stated 
thereof, except in such cases as are specifically mentioned in it. 

Art. 4 The specification of guarantees and rights, given 
under this Constitution, does not exclude other guarantees and 
rights not enumerated, but resulting from the form of government 
that it establishes and of the principles consigned or resulting 
from other laws. 

title: III 

Sovereignty and Poiver of State. 

Art. 5 The sovereignty is vested essentially in the Nation. 

Art. 6 The organs of National Sovereignty are, the Legis- 
lative Power, the Executive Power, and the Judicial Power, in- 
dependent and harmonious in themselves. 

SECTION I 

Legislative Pozver. 

Art. 7 The Legislative Power is vested in the Congress 
of the Republic, formed by the two Houses, under the name 
of House of Deputies and Senate. 

Par. I The members of Congress are the representatives 
of the Nation and not of the electoral colleges that elect them. 

Par. 2 No one may be at the same time member of the two 
Houses. 

Par. 3 No one may be Senator if he be less than thirty-five 
years of age nor Deputy if less than twenty-five years. 

Art. 8 The House of Deputies and Senate are elected by 
the direct suffrage of the elector citizens. 

Par. The organization of the electoral colleges of the two 
Houses and the process of election shall be regulated by special 
law. 

Art. 9 The Senate shall be formed of as many Senators 
as may result from the election of three persons for each con- 
tinental district, and adjacent islands, and of one person for 
each ultramarine province. 

Par. For the election of Senators in each continental dis- 
trict and adjacent islands, their respective lists shall contain only 
two names. 

Art. 10 For the election of the House of Deputies and 
Senate the electoral colleges shall meet by their own right, if 



268 Constitutional Government. 

they are not duly called to a meeting before the end of term 
of the legislature and in the time that the law designates. 

Art. II The Congress of the Republic meets at the Capitol 
of the Nation on the 2nd day of December of each year. The 
legislative session shall hold meetings during a period of four 
months, which may be prolonged or postponed by proper delib- 
eration of both Houses in joint session. 

Art. 12 The Congress may be called to an extraordinary 
session by one fourth of its members or by the Executive Power. 

Art. 13 The opening and closing of the two houses shall 
be on the same day, but they shall work separately in public 
sessions unless a resolution is passed to the contrary. 

The decisions shall be taken by the majority of votes, if 
there be present in each house the absolute majority of members. 

Par. Each one of the Houses shall verify and recognize 

the powers of its members, elect its officers, organize its internal 

Regulations, regulate its police power and name its employees. 

. Art. 14 The joint sessions of the two Houses shall be 

presided over by the senior of the Presidents. 

Art. 15 The Deputies and Senators are inviolable in their 
opinions and votes, that they may express during the exercise 
of their functions. Their vote is free and independent of any 
outside insinuations and instructions. 

Art. 16 During the exercise of the legislative functions, no 
member of Congress shall be juror, appraiser, or witness without 
the authorization of his respective House. 

Art. 17 No Deputy, or Senator shall be, or kept im- 
prisoned, during the period of sessions, without previous license 
of his House, except, if he be detected in an act to which a 
greater sentence is applicable, or its equivalent in the penal scale. 

Art. 18 If a Deputy, or Senator is criminally prosecuted, 
and the prosecution carried until the final decision, the judge 
shall consult the respective House, which shall decide whether 
the Deputy, or Senator shall be suspended and the prosecution 
carried out during the interval of sessions, or after the offender 
has finished his functions. 

Art. 19 The members of Congress shall receive during the 
sessions, a compensation which shall be fixed by the National 
Constituent Assembly. 

Art. 20 No member of Congress, shall after his election, 
make contracts with the Executive Power, nor accept from this, 
or any foreign government paid employment, or subsidized com- 
mission. 

Par. I The following exceptions shall be made on the pre- 
ceding article. 

I Diplomatic missions. 



Constitutional Government 269 



2 Military commands or commissions and the commissariats 
of the Republic in the Ultramarine Possessions. 

3 Promotive offices and legal promotions. 

4 The nominations that are lawfully made by the Govern- 
ment after the necessary examinations, or by proposal made by 
the individuals who have the legal right to indicate or choose 
the officers to be nominated. 

Par. 2 No Deputy or Senator shall accept nominations for 
the missions, commands or commissions, given under parts i 
and 2 of the previous paragraph, without permission of his house, 
if by accepting he is not able to perform his legislative duties, 
unless it be a case of war or one in which the honor and integrity 
of the Nation is at stake. 

Art. 21 No Deputy or Senator shall serve, in the admin- 
istrative councils, as manager or superintendent of enterprises 
or societies constituted by special contract or concession of the 
State, or which receive from same, privileges not conceded by 
generic law, compensation or guarantee of income (except those 
which by delegation of the Government represent the interests 
of the State) neither shall he be concessionary, contractor or 
member of contracting firms of concessions, auctions or public 
work by contract or financial operations with the State. 

Par. The unobservance of the precepts contained in this 
and preceding article, shall be punished by loss of mandate and 
abrogation of the acts and contracts referred to therein. 

The House of Deputies. 

Art 22 The Deputies shall be elected for a term of three 
years. 

Par. The Deputy elected to fill a vacancy by death or any 
other reason shall only exercise his duties until the end of that 
legislation. 

Art. 23 The House of Deputies shall have the right of 
Initiative on the following: 

a Taxes. 

b The organization of land and sea forces. 

c The discussion of the proposals made by the Executive 
Power. 

d The impeachment of members of the Executive Power, 
for crimes of responsibility committed in that quality, accordmg 
to the terms given under this Constitution. 

e The revision of the Constitution. 

/ The prorogation and postponement of the legislative 
session. 



270 Constitutional Government 



The Senate. 

Art. 24 The Senators are elected for a term of six years. 

Whenever it shall be necessary to proceed with the general 
elections of Deputies, half of the members of the Senate shall 
be renewed. 

Par. I For the first renovation of the Senate, constituted 
in this manner, chance shall decide from what districts and 
Ultramarine Provinces the Senators must be replaced, and in the 
subsequent elections it must be decided by the time in which 
the election took place. 

Par. 2 The Senator elected to fill a vacancy caused by death 
or any other reason shall only occupy this post during the time 
left the substituted. 

Art. 25 The Senate shall have the right to approve or veto, 
by secret vote, the proposals for the nomination of governors 
and commissaries of the Republic for the Ultramarine Provinces. 

Par. If Congress is not in session the Executive Power 
shall make these nominations given in the preceding article but 
they shall only be temporary. 



Duties of the Congress of the Republic. 

Art. 26 The Congress of the Republic shall have power: 

1 To enact laws, interpret, suspend and revoke them. 

2 To see that the Constitution and the laws are observed 
and to promote the general welfare of the country. 

3 To estimate the revenue and fix the annual expense of 
the Republic; to take account of the revenue and expense of 
each financial enterprise and vote taxes annually. 

4 To authorize the Executive Power to contract loans and 
other operations of credit, if they are not of a fluctuating debt, 
having previously established or approved the conditions in which 
they must be made. 

5 To regulate the payment of the internal and external debt. 

6 To decide the organization of National defense. 

7 To create or abolish public offices, and to increase or 
decrease their salaries. 

8 To establish and abolish custom houses. 

9 To determine the weight, value, inscription, type and 
denomination of coins. 

10 To fix the standard of weights and measures. 

11 To create banks of emission and regulate output of 
same and to pay tribute. 

12 To decide the limits of the territories of the Nation. 



Constitutional Government 271 



13 To fix, under the terms of special laws, the limits of 
administrative divisions, and decide on their general organization. 

14 To authorize the Executive Power to make war, if the 
question cannot be settled by arbitration or after same has failed, 
except in a case of eminent or effective peril from foreign forces, 
and to make peace. 

15 To decide definitely on treaties and conventions. 

16 To declare martial law, with total or partial suspension 
of constitutional guarantees, in one or more places of the Na- 
tional Territory, in case of imminent or effective peril from 
foreign forces, or in case of internal trouble. 

Par. I If Congress is not in session the Executive Power 
shall have this right. 

Par. 2 The Executive Power shall, during the time that 
martial law exists, as a preventive measure in cases of arrest, 
hold these prisoners in a special place not used by common 
criminals. 

Par. 3 Once Congress is in session, within thirty days, 
which it can do of its own right, the Executive Power shall 
present a report of the measures taken, giving the motive for 
same and for the abuse of which the respective authorities shall 
be held responsible. 

17 To organize the Judicial Power under the terms of 
the present Constitution. 

18 To grant amnesty. 

19 To elect the President of the Republic. 

20 To depose the President of the Republic under the 
terms of this Constitution. 

21 To deliberate the revision of the Constitution before 
the limit of ten years is over, under the terms of Par. i of 
Article 82. 

22 To regulate the administration of the National wealth. 

23 To decree the expenditure of the National wealth. 

24 To sanction the regulations passed for the execution 
of laws. 

25 To continue exercising their legislative duties, after 
the services of that legislation are at an end, if for any reason 
the election did not take place on the appointed day. 

Par. This extension of duties shall last until the elections, 
which are to send new members into the Congress, take place. 

Art. 27 The authorizations conceded by the Legislative 
Power cannot be made use of more than once. 



272 Constitutional Government 



Initiative, Formation and Protnulgation of Laws of Resolutions. 

Art. 28 The initiative on all projects of law shall belong 
indifferently to any member of Congress of the Executive Power, 
saving the exceptions specified in Article 23. 

Art. 29 Any project of law adopted by one of the Houses 
must be submitted to the other, and on it being approved by the 
latter, it shall then be sent to the President of the Republic to 
be issued as a law. 

Art. 30 The formula for issuing a law is as follows : "In 
the name of the Nation, the Congress of the Republic decrees, 
and I issue, the following law (or resolution). 

Art. 31 The President of the Republic as head of the 
Executive Power, shall issue any project of law inside of fifteen 
days, from the date of its presentation. If his decision is not 
given during the time specified, his silence shall be equivalent 
to the enactment of the law. 

Art. 32 The project of law approved by one House shall 
be sent to the other. The latter must give its decision, at the 
latest, in the first legislative session after the one in which it 
was approved. In case this is not done the text approved by 
the House which initiated the project shall be promulgated as 
law. 

Art. 33 The project of one House amended by the other 
shall return to the first, and the changes being approved, it shall 
then be sent as amended, to the President of the Republic for 
promulgation. 

If the initiative House does not approve the amendments 
made, these, together with the project, shall be submitted to dis- 
cussion and vote of the Houses in joint session. 

The text approved shall be sent to the President of the 
Republic, who will issue it as law. 

Art. 34 In case one of the Houses simply rejects a project 
already approved by the other, the two Houses shall then come 
together for a vote and discussion, just as if the project had 
been amended and not rejected. 

Art. 35 The projects rejected definitely shall not be brought 
up again in the same legislative session. 

SECTION II 

Executive Pozver. 

Art. 36 The Executive Power shall be vested in the Presi- 
dent of the Republic and his Ministers. 

Art. 37 The President of the Republic represents the Na- 
tion in its sreneral relations of State, both internal and external. 



Constitutional Government 273 



Election of the President of the Republic. 

Art. 38 The election of the President of the Republic shall 
take place in a special session of Congress, meeting by their own 
right, 60 days before the end of each presidential period. 

Par. I The ballot shall be secret and the election by two- 
thirds vote of the members of the Houses of Congress in joint 
session. 

If none of the candidates receive this majority the election 
will continue. On the third vote only the two candidates who 
have received the greater number of votes shall participate, and 
the one receiving the greater number will be elected. 

§ 2 In case of a presidential vacancy, by death or any other 
cause, the two Houses united as the Congress of the Republic 
shall proceed immediately with the election of a new President, 
who shall exercise his duties until the end of that presidential 
period. 

§ 3 While the elections referred to in the preceding para- 
graphs do not take place, or if, for any reason there is any 
transient obstacle in the exercise of the presidential functions, 
the full rights of the Executive Power shall be jointly vested in 
the Ministers. 

39 To be elected President of the Republic the following 
qualifications are necessary : to have attained the age of 35 years 
and be a Portuguese citizen in full enjoyment of all his civil 
and political rights and must be born in the Portuguese Terri- 
tory. 

40 The following are ineligible for the post of President 
of the Republic : 

(a) Members of the families who reigned in Portugal. 

(b) Consanguineous relatives or in the ist or 2nd degree, 
by civil right, of the President who is leaving, but this only re- 
fers to the first election posterior to his leaving. 

41 If the President elect is a member of Congress, he loses 
immediately, by virtue of this election, his rights as a Congress- 
man. 

42 The President shall be elected for a period of four 
years and cannot be re-elected for the ensuing period. 

Par. The President shall leave his post on the last day of 
his period in office, the elected taking his place immediately. 

43 In taking charge of his post, the President will pro- 
nounce, in a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, un- 
der the presidency of the oldest President, the following declara- 
tion : 

I solemnly declare, on my honor, to maintain and keep with 
loyalty and fidelity the Constitution of the Republic, observe the 



274 Constitutional Government 



laws, promote the welfare of the Country, and to sustain and 
defend the integrity and the independence of the Portuguese 
Nation. 

Art. 44 The President cannot leave the national territory 
without permission of Congress under the penalty of losing his 
post. 

Art. 45 The President shall receive a compensation which 
will be fixed before his election and cannot be changed during 
his time in office. 

Par. None of the properties of the Nation, not even the 
one where the office of the President of the Republic is situated, 
can be utilized for the personal use of the President or mem- 
bers of his family. 

Art. 46 The President may be deposed by the two Houses, 
sitting as the Congress, if a resolution is passed, founded and 
approved by two-thirds of the members, which must state clearly 
the deposition, or he may be impeached for a crime of respon- 
sibility. 

Pozvers of the President of the Republic. 

Art. 47 The President of the Republic shall have the right: 

1 To nominate the Ministers from the Portuguese Citizens 
eligible and to dismiss them. 

2 To convene Congress in extraordinary session, when the 
welfare of the Country so requires. 

3 To promulgate and make public the laws and resolutions 
of Congress, dispatching the decrees, instructions and regula- 
tions, regarding the good execution of the same. 

4 To fill all civil and military posts on proposal of his 
Ministers, and to discharge, suspend and depose the respective 
functionaries, the latter having the right of appeal to the com- 
petent courts. 

5 To represent the Nation in foreign countries, and to di- 
rect the external policy of the Republic, without interfering with 
the functions of Congress. 

6 To declare, after agreeing with his Ministers, and for 
a period not exceeding thirty days, martial law in any point 
of the national territory, in cases of foreign hostilities, or grave 
riots, under the terms of Paragraphs i, 2 and 3 of No. 16 of 
Article 26 of this Constitution. 

7 To make commercial treaties, peace and arbitration, and 
adjust other international conventions, submitting them to the 
approval of Congress. 

Par. The alliance treaties shall be submitted to Congress, 



Constitutional Government 275 



in a secret session, if it is so asked by two-thirds of the mem- 
bers. 

8 To grant pardons and commute punishments. 

9 To provide for everything that regards the internal and 
external safety of the State, as per this Constitution. 

Art. 48 The powers referred to in the previous article 
shall be exercised through the Ministers and under the terms 
of article 49. 



The Ministers. 

Art. 49 All the acts of the President of the Republic shall 
be countersigned, at least by the competent Minister. If this is 
not done, they shall be void of all power, and cannot be given 
execution and no one will have to obey them. 

Art. 50 The Ministers cannot hold another public office, 
nor shall they be elected for the Presidency of the Republic 
unless they have resigned from the Ministry six months before 
the elections. 

Par. I The members of Congress who accept the post of 
minister shall not lose their mandate. 

Par. 2 The prohibitions and other dispositions given un- 
der article 21 and its paragraph shall be applicable to the Minis- 
ters. 

Art. 51 Each Minister shall be responsible, politically, civ- 
illy and criminally for the acts that he legalizes or practices. 

The Ministers shall be tried for crimes of responsibility in 
the ordinary courts. 

Art. 52 The Ministers should appear in the sessions of 
Congress, and shall always have the right of a hearing in de- 
fense of their acts. 

Art. 53 One of the Ministers, who will be nominated also 
by the President, shall be president of the Ministry and will an- 
swer not only for acts under his own supervision but also for 
those of general policy. 

Art. 54 In the first fifteen days of January, the Minister 
of Finances will present to the House of Deputies the General 
Budget of the State. 



Crimes of Responsibility. 

Art. 55 Crimes of responsibility are the acts that the Ex- 
ecutive Pov/er and its agents perform : 

I Against the political existence of the Nation ; 



276 Constitutional Government 



2 Against the Constitution and the democratic repubHcan 
regime ; 

3 Against the free exercise of the Powers of State; 

4 Against the enjoyment and exercise of pohtical and in- 
dividual rights ; 

5 Against the internal safety of the country ; 

6 Against the integrity of the administration ; 

7 Against the keeping and constitutional use of public 
moneys ; 

8 Against the laws of the budget voted by Congress. 
Par. I The impeachment for any of these crimes shall 

result in the loss of post and the incapacity of holding another 
public office. 

Par. 2 The President of the Republic is not responsible 
for the acts of the administration or of the Ministers or their 
agents, being only responsible for the crimes indicated in Nos. 
I, 2, 3. 4 and 5 of this article. 



SECTION III. 

Judicial Power. 

Art. 56 The Judicial Power of the Republic shall be com- 
posed of the Supreme Court of Justice and the courts of first 
and second instance. 

Par. The Supreme Court of Justice shall have its seat in 
Lisbon. The courts of first and second instance shall be dis- 
tributed through the country, according to the needs of the ad- 
ministration of justice. 

Art. 57 The judges belonging to the judicial magistracy 
shall hold office for life and are irremovable; the nominations, 
resignations, promotions, transference and positions outside of 
this body shall be made under the terms of the organic law of 
the Judicial Power. 

Art. 58 The trial by jury shall be maintained. 

Art. 59 The intervention of a jury shall be optional to the 
parties in civil and commercial cases, but it will be obligatory in 
criminal cases, when to such cases, shall have to be applied a 
heavier sentence than correctional imprisonment and when the 
offense is of a political character. 

Art. 60 The judges shall not be responsible for their de- 
cisions. 

Art. 61 No judge shall accept from the government re- 
munerative functions. When it is so needed by the public serv- 
ice, the Government may request the judges they think neces- 



Constitutional Government 277 



sary for any permanent or temporary commissions. These nom- 
inations shall be made under the terms that the respective or- 
ganic law determines. 

Art. 62 The sentences and orders of the Judicial Power 
shall be executed by private judicial officers, who shall be helped 
by the competent authorities when they ask for it. 

Art. 63 Whenever, in the cases which are up for trial, any 
of the parties question the validity of the law or the diplomas 
issued by the Executive Power or of the corporations with pub- 
lic authority that have been called upon, the Judicial Power shall 
investigate the constitutional legitimacy of same, and whether it 
conforms with the Constitution and the principles therein. 

Art. 64 The President of the Republic shall be tried and 
sentenced in the common courts, for the crimes he commits. 

Par. When the final decision and sentence has been passed, 
the judge shall communicate with Congress who, in joint ses- 
sion of the two Houses, will decide whether the sentence shall 
be passed immediately or whether they will wait until the Pres- 
idential term is over. 

Art. 65 If a Minister is tried criminally until a final deci- 
sion is given, the judge will communicate it to the House of Dep- 
uties, who will decide if the Minister must be suspended and 
the trial continue during the interval of the sessions or after the 
functions of the defendant are over. 



title; IV 

Local Administrative Institutions. 

Art. 66 The organization and powers of the administrative 
corps shall be regulated by special laws and will be based on the 
following : 

1 The Executive Power shall not interfere with the busi- 
ness of the administrative corps. 

2 The decisions of the administrative corps may be modi- 
fied or annulled by the litigious courts when they offend the laws 
and regulations of general order. 

3 The district and municipal powers shall be divided in 
deliberative and executive, under the terms that the law pre- 
scribes. 

4 The exercise of referendum, under the terms determined 
by law. 

5 The representation of the minority in the administrative 
corps. 

6 Financial autonomy of the administrative corps, under 
the terms determined by law. 



278 Constitutional Government 

TITLE V 

Administration of the Ultramarine Provinces. 

Art. 67 In the administration of the ultramarine provinces, 
the regime of decentralization will predominate, with special laws 
adapted to the state of civiUzation of each one. 

TITLE VI 

General Dispositions 

Art. 68 Every Portuguese citizen is obliged to military 
service, according to his abilities, to sustain the independence 
and integrity of the Nation and the Constitution, and to defend 
them against their internal and external enemies. 

Art. 69 The public force is bound to render unconditional 
obedience, and cannot formulate petitions or collective represen- 
tations, nor hold meetings, unless with permission or order of 
the competent authority. The armed corps cannot deliberate. 

Art. 70 Special laws shall regulate the organization and 
administration of the military forces of land and sea in all the 
territory of the Republic. 

Art. 71 For the condemned for electoral crimes and of- 
fenses, there shall be no pardon, but the House in whose elec- 
tion these crimes or offenses were committed, may take the ad- 
vantage of the concession of amnesty, when it is so voted by 
two-thirds of its members and only when the condemned has 
paid half of the penalty, when the same is prison. The amnesty 
does not include the costs and stamps of the trial nor the fines 
or the attorney fees. 

Art. 72 The crimes of responsibility, referred to in article 
55, shall be defined by special law. 

Art. 73 The Portuguese Republic without interfering with 
its treaties of alliance, holds the principles of arbitration as the 
best way to settle international questions. 

Art. 74 Portuguese Citizens, to be able to exercise their 
political rights, must be considered as such by the civil law. 

Par. The loss and regulation of the Portuguese citizenship 
shall also be regulated by the civil law. 

Art. 75 To those who, on the date of the promulgation 
of this Constitution, are serving in the army or the navy, shall 
be assured the right of a military medal, under the terms and 
regulations of the respective laws. 

Par. The pensions that, up to the present have been given 
to those decorated with the Order of Torre e Espada shall be 
maintained. 



Constitutional Government 279 



Art. 76 The medal of merit, philanthropy, generosity and 
that for good service in the Colonies shall be maintained. 

Art. 77c The Congress in some of its annual sessions shall 
discuss exclusively the local interests and reclamations made to 
the Executive Power by the administrative corps, when it is re- 
garding certain things in which the State must interfere. 

Art. 78 A special law shall fix the cases and conditions in 
which the State is to give pensions to the families of the military 
killed in the service of the Republic, or the military rendered 
useless in such service. 

Art. 79 The diplomas given for civic deeds and military 
acts may be accompanied by medals. 

Art. 80 The laws and decrees in existence shall continue 
in force, until they are revoked or revised by the Legislative 
Power, if they are not explicit or implicitly against the form of 
Government adopted by this Constitution and its principles. 

Art. 81 When this Constitution is approved, it shall be im- 
mediately decreed and promulgated by the Presidency of the 
National Constituent Assembly and signed by its members. 

TITLE VII 
Constitutional Revision 

Art. 82 The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic shall 
be revised every ten years, counting from the promulgation of 
same, and for this work the Congress in session at the time set for 
this revision shall be vested with constituent powers. 

Par. I The revision may take place five years before the 
time, if this is approved by two-thirds of the members of Con- 
gress in joint session of the two Houses. 

Par. 2 Proposals for constitutional revision which do not 
state clearly the changes projected, or those which have in view 
the abolishment of the Republican form of government, cannot 
be admitted for discussion. 

Transitory Dispositions. 

Art. 83 The first President of the Portuguese Republic 
shall be elected in a special session to be held three days after the 
approval of this Constitution by the National Constituent As- 
sembly and after his salary has been decided. 

The election shall be secret and by majority of the members 
of the National Constituent Assembly, their powers having been 
verified on the eve of the election. 



280 Constitutional Government 



If after the second vote has been taken, there is not an ab- 
solute majority, the third will be by relative majority between 
the two candidates who received the greater number of votes 
on the second. 

The first presidential period shall end on the 5th day of Oc- 
tober of 1915. 

Par. For this election there shall not be the incompatibil- 
ity referred to in article 50 of this Constitution. 

Art. 84 In the first session after the election of the Pres- 
ident of the Republic the election of the Senate will take place. 

Par. I The first Senators shall be taken from the Deputies 
of the National Constituent Assembly who have reached the 
age of thirty years. Seventy-one will be chosen, and the other 
members of the National Constituent Assembly will form the 
first House of Deputies. 

Par. 2 The choice of Senators by the National Constituent 
Assembly will be made in four elections, the first three with a 
list of twenty-one names and the last with eight names. In the 
first three lists there shall be a representative from all the dis- 
tricts, if the Deputies of these districts conform to the conditions 
of this article. 

Par. 3 The terms of the members of the two houses shall 
end when a new Congress has been instituted, under the terms 
prescribed by this Constitution, after the legislative session of 
1914 is over. 

Art. 85 The first Congress of the Republic shall enact the 
following laws : 

(a) Laws on crimes of responsibility. 

(b) Administrative code. 

(c) Organic laws of the ultramarine provinces. 

(d) Law on the judiciary organization. 

(e) Law regarding public ofiices. 

(f) Law on political incompatibilities. 

(g) Electoral law. 

Par, The General Budget of State and other urgent meas- 
ures shall be discussed in alternate sessions. 

Art. 86 If any vacancies take place in the first House of 
Deputies, these shall not be filled, unless the number of Deputies 
becomes less than one hundred and thirty-five. 

The vacancies of the first Senate shall be filled according to 
article 84 and its paragraphs, as long as the House of Deputies 
has more than one hundred and thirty-five members. 

Art. 87 When Congress is not in session, the Government 
may take the necessary and urgent steps for the ultramarine 
provinces. 



Constitutional Govermnent 281 



Par. Once Congress is in session the Government shall give 
a report of the steps taken. 

Chamber of Sessions of the National Constituent Assembly, 
on the 2ist of August, 191 1 : Anselmo Braamcamp Freire, Pres- 
ident; Baltasar de Almeida Teixeira, First Secretary; Afonso 
Henriques de Prado Castro e Lemos, Second Secretary. 



Constitutional Government 283 



CHAPTER XII. 
FRANCE A REPUBLIC. 

France, as a republic, has shown far more power and efficiency 
as an opponent to Germany during the present war than she did 
in 1870-71 as an empire under Napoleon III. At no time dur- 
ing the Bourbons was France as thoroughly united, patriotic, 
strong and defiant as during the present attack upon her liberty 
and territory, a nation without a king or emperor and existing 
under a representative constitutional government. 

Planted on the extreme west edge of the continent of Europe, 
which has been in a large measure dominated for centuries by 
czars, emperors, kings and princes, she resists with unabated 
courage the terrific attack of the military forces of the central- 
ized monarchical states of the German Empire and despotic dual 
monarchy of Austria-Hungary. She is determined that national 
independence and popular government shall not perish entirely in 
Europe. 

France and her sister republic Switzerland and the new repub- 
lic of Portugal now stand almost alone on the blood-stained, 
monarch-ridden continent, as the representative of free govern- 
ment, while England and her free colonies are doing their part 
in aiding and supporting France at this critical period of her 
existence. 

Republics are thoroughly detested and feared by the great cen- 
tral monarchies of Europe, as indicated by the Holy Alliance, 
originally signed by Prussia, Russia and Austria and never an- 
nulled. 

This antipathy will endure as long as monarchical govern- 
ments exist, and no permanent peace can be expected in Europe 
until national independence and free popular constitutional gov- 
ernments supplant monarchical institutions and the people are 
permitted to choose their own rulers. 

Although France must be enrolled among the representa- 
tive democracies or republics of this period, its present consti- 
tution is not in all respects a practical and safe model to copy 
after. It has a monarchical element trying to cooperate 
with republicanism, the lingering shadow of imperial and regal 
thrones which have passed into oblivion, never, it is hoped, to be 
reestablished. These two adverse elements do not create har- 
mony, but inharmony in the administration of a government. 



284 Constitutional Government 



France, with Corsica, and the islands of the coast, without 
taking into account any of the separate provinces or possessions 
outside of Europe, contains an area of 204,147 sq. miles, not de- 
ducting what Germany has recently taken, and has experienced 
more sudden changes than any other government in Europe 
since the fall of the Bastile July 14, 1789. Since then there have 
been eleven different constitutions or formations of government 
following in rapid succession, varying with the exigencies of 
events. 

The constitution of 1791 creating a limited monarchy cur- 
tailing the power of the king, was expected to remedy the evil and 
discontent in France at the time of Louis XVI. It contained a 
declaration of "the rights of man and citizen." 

1. Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. 
Social distinctions can be based only upon public utility. 

2. The aim of every political association is the preservation 
of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights 
are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 

3. The source of all sovereignty is essentially in the nation. 
No body, no individual can exercise authority that does not pro- 
ceed from it in plain terms. 

4. Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does 
not injure others ; accordingly, the exercise of all the natural 
rights of each man, has for its only limits, those that secure to 
other members of society the enjoyment of those same rights. 
These limits can be determined only by law. 



THE FRENCH CONSTITUTION OF I79I. 

"The national assembly, wishing to establish the French con- 
stitution upon the principles that it has just recognized and de- 
clared, abolishes irrevocably the institutions that have injured 
liberty and equality of rights." the constitution declared : 

"There is no longer nobility, nor peerage, nor heredity dis- 
tinction, nor distinction of orders, nor feudal regime, nor patri- 
monial jurisdictions, nor titles, denominations, or prerogatives 
derived therefrom, nor any orders of chivalry, not any corpora- 
tions or decorations which demand proofs of nobility, or that 
were grounded upon distinctions of birth, nor any superiority 
other than that of public officials in the exercise of their func- 
tions." 

"There is no longer either sale, or inheritance of any public 
office." 

This constitution which is quite lengthy is set forth in full 
in Anderson's Constitutional Documents, France, 1789 — 1901. 



Constitutional Government 285 



This constitution was accepted by the king, Louis X\'I., 
September 13, 1791. 

After the execution of Louis XVL, February 15, 1793. the 
Committee of Nine appointed to draft a constitution adopted an 
uhra-repubhcan form of government, and submitted it to the 
people. It was accepted by them. It was called the constitution 
of the Year i. and reiterated tlie "Declaration of the Riglits 
of Man and Citizen." 

There was an executive council consisting of 24 members 
chosen by the legislative body from candidates named by the 
secondary electors of the departments ; an unicameral corps leg- 
islative chosen indirectly by manhood suffrage for one year with- 
out power to enact "decrees," but only to propose laws ; and an 
arrangement wdiereby projected laws were to be communicated to 
private assemblies of citizens to be acted upon after the prin- 
ciple of the referendum. (Anderson's Constitutions, 171- 182.) 

It is said that this w^as a model constitution, the best ever 
brought forth from the throes of periodical revolutions in 
France ; but it was never put in force, although ratified by the 
people, being first temporarily suspended, and afterwards set 
aside. 

"On the basis of a decree of December 4, 1793, the con- 
vention maintained through upwards of two years, a revolution- 
ary government, and wdien finally, on October 26, 1795, the body 
passed out of existence, it left behind it in the constitution of 
1795, an instrument of government essentially different from the 
proposed instrument of 1793." ( Frederick Austin Ogg — Gov- 
ernments of Europe.) 

November 9, 1799, Napoleon's coup d'etat ended the oper- 
ation of the constitution of 1795. 



the; brumaire decree of November, i799- 

I. The Council of the Five Hundred, considering the situa- 
tion of the Republic, declares urgency and takes the following 
resolution : 

The Directoire is no more, and the following named persons, 
owing to the excesses and the crimes in which they have con- 
stantly engaged, and especially as regards the majority of them 
in the session of this morning, are no longer members of the na- 
tional representation. (Here follow the names of 6t persons.) 

By the coup d'etat of Brumaire the government of the Di- 
rectoire was overthrown. This decree was passed by a small 
number of members of the Council of Five Hundred whom Lu- 
cian Bonaparte gathered about him after the dispersion of the 



286 Constitutional Government 



council by force. It gave to the coup d'etat some semblance of 
legal sanction. 

References: Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 197-207. (Popular 
ed. 133-139.) ; Fournier, Napoleon, 166-182. 

2. The Corps-Legislatif creates provisionally a consular 
executive commission, consisting of Citizens Sieyes, Roger Du- 
cos, and General Bonaparte, who shall bear the name of Consuls 
of the French Republic. 

3. This commission is invested with the plenitude of di- 
rectorial power and particularly charged to organize order in all 
parts of the administration, to re-establish internal tranquillity 
and to procure honorable and enduring peace. 

4. It is authorized to send out delegates having powers 
which are fixed and are within the limits of its own powers. 

5. The Corps-Legislatif adjourns to the following I Ven- 
tose (Feb. 20, 1800) ; it shall assemble with perfect right upon 
that date in its palace at Paris. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF DECEMBER, 1799- 

Title I. Of the Exercise of the Rights of Citizenship. 

I. The French Republic is one and indivisible. (See An- 
derson 271.) 

This constitution was prepared by Napoleon and Sieyes, 
and was imposed upon the two legislative commissions. It was 
submitted to the people and accepted by three million votes 
against fifteen hundred. 

The constitution of December 13, 1799, contained many re- 
visions of the former instrument and under this Napoleon ruled 
France until 1814. He first became First Consul and then the 
senatus-consulta of August 4, 1802 proclaimed him First Con- 
sul for life; and on May i8, 1804, he was made Emperor of 
France. 

THE SENATUS-CONSULTUM OE MAY, 1804. 

Title I. 

1. The Government of the French Republic is intrusted to 
an emperor, who takes the title of Emperor of the French. 

Justice is administered in the name of the Emperor by the 
officers whom he appoints. 

2. Napoleon Bonaparte, present First Consul of the Repub- 
lic, is Emperor of the French. 

Title II. Of the Inheritance. 



Constitutional Government 287 



3. The imperial dignity is hereditary in the direct natural 
and legitimate lineage of Napoleon, from male to male, by order 
of primogeniture, and to the perpetual exclusion of women and 
their descendants. 

4. Napoleon Bonaparte can adopt the children or grand 
children of his brothers provided they have fully reached the age 
of eighteen years, and he himself has no male children at the 
moment of adoption. (See p. 343 Anderson's Constitution.) 

April 30th, 1803 a treaty was completed between France and 
the United States by which Napoleon Bonaparte sold the entire 
territory known as "Louisiana" to the United States for ap- 
proximately seventy-five million proves without asking the con- 
sent of the chambers and used the funds thus obtained in his 
preparation for an invasion of England which never was ac- 
complished. 

NAPOLEON COMPARED WITH WASHINGTON, 

The circumstances surrounding Napoleon in his ascendancy 
in France during the last of the eighteenth and first of the nine- 
teenth century, in some respects, (as monarchical rule had been 
overthrown), were analogous to those which environed Wash- 
ington who first overcame the enemies of free government in 
America and then helped to establish a Republic. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, like George Washington, had the op- 
portunity of founding a representative democracy or republic. 
He possessed the ability and prestige to enable him to draft a 
model constitution, and he could easily have gained the support 
of the nation for its adoption. 

As president of such a republic, he could have firmly estab- 
lished a well organized republican government, and with his 
executive ability, made it permanent This would have prevented 
much of the misrule, anarchy, and instability which followed his 
overthrow. He organized Switzerland into a centralized repub- 
lic, under the title of the Helvetic Republic, with a 
constitution which was practically a copy of the French con- 
stitution of 1795, dated April 12, 1798. This was super- 
seded by a new constitution of July 2, 1802, which re-estab- 
lished the cantonal government. If Napoleon had created a sim- 
ilar constitution for France it would have been better for that 
country than the establishment of another empire. He would 
then have gone down to posterity much more honored than he 
has been, and would have been called the Father of Republican 
France. 

Marquis de LaFayette, the friend of George Washington, 



288 Constitutional Government 

who took such an active part with us in our war with Great 
Britain, and to whom Congress in recognition of his services 
gave a township of land and $200,000 when he visited the United 
States in 1824, was offered several prominent public positions by 
Napoleon. These he refused. Fie could have cooperated with 
Napoleon as he had with Washington in giving France a liberal 
government, but he opposed Napoleon's assumption of the life 
consulate and the imperial title, and he lived in retirement until 
the restoration of 1814. when he became Vice President of the 
Assembly. He remained true to his principles and opposed the 
reactionary policy of the restored Bourbons. 

The last attempt to construct a constitution suitable for a 
representative republic after all past experience has in many re- 
spects been a failure. 

The Constitution of the United States, with some modifica- 
tions as to the limitations of the federal government in its rela- 
tion to the state governments and the power vested in a Supreme 
Court over acts of Congress, would be far better than the pres- 
ent constitution of France, which has not been compiled with 
cool deliberation and put together as an harmonious and com- 
pleted instrument. The president has not sufficient power, and 
the ministry which is accountable to the assembly, following the 
example of former constitutional monarchies, stands between 
him and the necessary freedom of action which should be given 
without fear to the head of the executive department of a re- 
public. He should appoint his own cabinet and remove the 
members when he deems it proper to do so, and be accountable 
for his own administration. Not being a king nor an emperor, 
it was not necessary to follow the precedent which removes all ac- 
countability and responsibility from a king. The president of 
France should be elected by the entire body of the people by uni- 
versal suflfrage, and be accountable to them direct, instead of 
owing his election to the assembly, which places him more or less 
under its control. 

The fatal experience of the different republican administra- 
tions of France demonstrates the mistake of leaving the election of 
President or the power to adopt changes in the constitution in 
the hands of the legislative branch of the government. In both 
instances the people should dictate and control l)y a majority of 
the voters through equal universal suffrage. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, and subsequently Louis Napoleon ; 
used the pov/er given into their hands after being placed 
at the head of the government through the action of the 
legislative department, to subvert the constitution under 
which they were chosen. A constitution for a representa- 
tive republic should not take the power of electing the president 



Constitutional Government 289 



out of the direct control of the people. It should be regarded 
by the people as supreme and above the power of the executive 
or legislative branch of the government to change. The supreme 
power should rest with the people, and they alone should have 
the power to change its provisions. The treasonable acts of the 
two Napoleons resulted in weakening the system of constitu- 
tional government and dangerous precedents were made for fu- 
ture republics. 

April II, 1814, Napoleon signed an act surrendering the 
throne of France for himself and his heirs. He was given an 
annuity of two million francs and allowed to retain his body- 
guard of one thousand men, with which he was to retire to Elba, 
one of the Tuscan Islands of the Mediterranean. He arrived 
there May 30, 1814. 

After Napoleon was forced out of Europe, ending his daz- 
zling military exploits and brilliant achievements in nation build- 
ing, another Bourbon. Louis XVIIL, was placed upon the re-ad- 
justed throne of the Capets. He entered Paris three weeks after 
the abdication of Napoleon. 

A new constitution, called the Constitutional Charter, pre- 
pared under the instruction of the king, was adopted by the two 
chambers June 4, 18 14, and with a few changes remained in 
force until 1848. At the head of the state was the king, who 
made appointments, declared war, concluded treaties, com- 
manded the army, and initiated legislation. The bicameral legis- 
lature passed all laws and levied all taxes. The Chamber of 
Peers was composed of members, appointed by the king for life, 
or in heredity. The Chamber of Deputies contained representa- 
tives from the several departments, elected for five years. The 
Deputies were chosen under the system of scrutin de liste. Men 
thirty years old or more who paid a direct tax of three hundred 
francs annually assembled in the principal town of a depart- 
ment and chose the deputy to which it was entitled, voting by 
ballot. The king received 15,510,000 francs per annum for him- 
self and 4,000,000 for the royal family. 

The ministry was controlled by the Due de Richelieu, who 
had taken the place of Talleyrand and Fouche. In the Chambers 
the Count D'Artois represented the ultra-royalists' right wing, 
while the left was brilliantly led by LaFayette, Manuel and Ben- 
jamin Constant, Guizet, representing the modern party. 

Napoleon, at the urgent solicitation of Fleury de Chaboulon, 
formerly an auditor of the French Council of State, who came to 
Porto Ferrajo, finally concluded to leave Elba and return to 
France, where he landed March i, 1815. On the 19th he entered 
Paris, Louis XVII. having abandoned the throne and left France 
as the army had forsaken him. On the 20th Napoleon was 



290 Constitutional Government 



again declared Emperor and formed a new cabinet composed 
of Fouche, Caulain Court, Marshall Davoust, Cambaceres, Car- 
not, and Benjamin Constant. 

March 13, he issued "Decree for Convoking an Extraor- 
dinary Assembly." 

The same day the powers issued a declaration against Na- 
poleon. 

The treaty of alliance against Napoleon was signed March 
25th. 

April 22, the act additional, prepared by Benjamin Constant, 
was submitted to popular vote, but never put into operation. 

After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, June 181 5, Gen. Sol- 
ignac in the House of Representatives said : "I propose a com- 
mittee to wait on the Emperor for immediate decision, referring 
to the demand for his abdication." 

"Let us delay an hour," cried Lucian, "an hour, but no 
more," replied Solignac. "If the answer is not returned at that 
time," said Lafayette, "I will move for his dethronement." 

Lucian called Lafayette an ingrate. 

"I wanting in gratitude to Napoleon !" exclaimed LaFayette 
indignantly. "Do you know what we have done for him? Have 
you forgotten that the bones of our brothers and our children 
every where attest our fidelity to him — amid the sands of Africa 
— on the shores of Guadalquivir and the Tagus — on the banks 
of the Vistula, and on the frozen deserts of Muscovy? Three 
millions of Frenchmen have perished for one man, who still 
wishes to fight the combined powers of Europe. We have 
done enough for Napoleon ; let us try and save France." 

Guizot wrote of Napoleon as follows : "The genius and re- 
nown of Napoleon have nothing to fear from the light of his- 
tory. Justice is done him and will be done every new genera- 
tion. Illustrious in the foremost rank among the greatest con- 
querors of enslaved humanity, whether subduing, ruling, or or- 
ganizing, equally great by military genius and by supreme in- 
stinct of national government." 

On the same day Louis XVIII. entered Paris Napoleon with- 
drew to Rochefort. Lafayette proposed to have him escape to 
the United States on an American merchantman vessel. It was 
arranged that Napoleon's brothers, as well as Hortense, with 
others of the family, should meet him in America. He subse- 
quently went on board the Bellerophone which took him to Eng- 
land and then was sent to St. Helena. 

September, 1824, Charles X., brother of Louis XVI., suc- 
ceeded to the throne of France after his brother Louis XVIII. 
His youth was passed in dissipation and he proved another ex- 
ample of kingly incompetence and degeneracy. He demanded 



Constitutional Government 291 



and received 25,000,000 francs for himself and 700,000 for the 
princes annually. He demonstrated the folly and hollow mockery 
of turning over a great national government to be ruled by a man 
simply because he was a descendant of a race of demoralized 
kings, as the Capets and Bourbons had proven themselves to 
be. 

Another revolution brought about a new constitution August 
14, 1830, which extended the suffrage. Louis Phillippe accepted 
the title of king under this constitution August 9, 1831. He was 
paid 12,000,000 francs a year, and his children were given a fair 
allowance. 

This constitution was superseded by that of November 4, 
1848, which declared the republic to be perpetual and the people 
sovereign, and provided that a president with executive powers 
should be elected by direct vote of the people. 

IMPERIAL POLICY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. 

The following is a speech I made before the Webster Club of 
the University of Michigan in 1863. 

Louis Napoleon, by usurping power in France, taking away 
the liberties of the press, the liberties of public meetings, and the 
liberties of association , which three liberties exist in Eng- 
land, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Switzerland, not only 
crippled the liberties of France, but also set a bad and dangerous 
example to the other limited monarchies of Europe, and placed 
a barrier in the progress of the liberties of the world. The re- 
duction of Mexico, and in fact the entire policy of Napoleon 
HL, has been prejudicial to the welfare of humanity. 

First, examine the act of usurpation itself. All other usur- 
pations to be found in history have had some kind of excuse — 
some pretense, however, flimsy — some form, however empty, of 
public call or public consent. But here is a usurpation by 
one of whom the little that is individually known, beyond his 
name, is ridiculous, and who has neither public service nor con- 
spicuous talents, nor personal reputation to justify an audacity 
for exceeding that of Cromwell. 

There were several parties in France at the time of the elec- 
tion of President, but the Bonapartists triumphed, and placed 
Louis Napoleon in the Executive chair. This is the oath which 
he took and then villainously violated : "In the presence of God 
and of the French people here represented by the National As- 
sembly, I swear to remain faithful to the one indivisible and dem- 
ocratic Republic, and to fulfill all the duties imposed upon me 
by the Constitution." Now, in order to see that he broke the trust 



292 Constitutional Government 



thus placed in his hands, read Article 68 of that Constitution 
which he swore to maintain : — "Any measure by which the Pres- 
ident of the Republic shall dissolve the Assembly, or prorogue 
it, or interfere any obstacle to the exercise of its functions, is a 
crime of High Treason. By this mere act the President is de- 
prived of all his functions, the country is bound to refuse him 
obedience, the Executive power passes at once and by right into 
the hands of the National Assembly, the judges of the court of 
justice are bound on penalty of forfeiture of their office to as- 
semble immediately to the trial of the President and his accom- 
plices. 

From the time he was placed in his Executive office until 
the 2nd of December, 1852, when he usurped the entire control 
of the government, this insinuating, wily, and treacherous Louis 
Napoleon sought by every means to corrupt the people and gain 
the mastery of the army. When he had succeeded in doing this, 
he imprisoned the Assembly, and had himself proclaimed Em- 
peror. And from that day to this France has crouched trem- 
blingly beneath his tyrannical heel. Will this be of advantage to 
France, the people of which sunny land bled and died for the ob- 
taining of their liberties ; where great minds struggled for years 
to break the chains that were galling the people, and to establish 
liberty ; and where a wise and wholesome Constitution was 
formed for the perpetuation of the freedom and happiness of the 
people? I think not, and cannot but be grieved to see the 
strong arm stretched forth, as it were, from the grave of the 
slumbering conqueror of Europe, in order to paralyze this ad- 
vance of liberty. 

The course adopted by Napoleon to accomplish his design 
of usurpation, was cautious and deceptive. "As president his 
salary was £24.000, which sum the Assembly doubled, and added 
£6,000 for charitable purposes, making, with some additions, a 
salary of over £54,000. Besides this he had his palace expenses 
paid, it being lighted, warmed, furnished, decorated, and served. 
But this immense salary was soon made away with by the Mon- 
seigniur le Prince President, surrounded by his gaudy 
etat major of courtiers, civil and military, collecting at State 
banquets all such foreigners of name and note as he hoped to 
dazzle with his splendor or propitiate by his cajolaries, and giv- 
ing collations of roast fowls and champagne to twenty thousand 
men at St. Maur, and then again thirty thousand at Satory. The 
object of all this flattery is evident. The people furnished the 
means by which the crafty President was bringing them into 
his insatiate grasp. In June, 1850, he persuaded his Minister 
to ask of the Assembly a large addition to his official allowance 
of 1,400,000 francs. This was granted by the Assembly, and it 



Constitutional Government 293 

proved in the end to be the means of their own destruction. Had 
the President been hmited to his salary, he would have found no 
opportunity to subjugate the country unless aided by foreign 
powers. February, 1851, he made another demand for 1,800,000 
francs, which the Assembly refused to grant. But on the re- 
assembling of the Assembly the constitutional generals Changar- 
nier and others had been dismissed, tmder various pretenses, and 
the President's generals placed in command. 

Even as president. Napoleon assumed the manners and 'de- 
portment of an Emperor, and even had himself proclaimed as 
such several times in the army, and toasted as Vive Napoleon ! 
Vive I'Empereur ! 

In December, 1852, his plan was completed, and using the 
army as his tool, he imprisoned the Assembly, and became Em- 
peror of France. No man will dare to affirm in this country of 
liberty — ^America — that such usurpation was beneficial to 
France. What if a great army has been established in that coun- 
try, w^as it not raised up to protect the crafty individual who had 
usurped the entire control of the government? What if Paris 
has been decorated and improved, was not this done to emblazon 
the name of Napoleon, and that too with the money of the people, 
who, under the liberal government taken from them, could have 
made far greater improvements? What if France under the 
Emperor does stand forth with power among the monarchies of 
Europe, would she not have loomed up with greater magnifi- 
cence and cast forth a more brilliant radiance of universal good, 
if she had remained a democracy? 

When 1 stood beneath the decorated ceilings of the Tuil- 
eries, and admired the recent embellishments that had been pro- 
fusely made by the Emperor, I could not feel any great respect 
for the usurper, who thus turned the money of the people into 
channels all leading to his own individual glory and aggrandize- 
ment. When I beheld the immense fortifications that were be- 
ing constructed in the center of Paris for the personal protection 
of Louis Napoleon, I could imagine the hot-bed of revolution 
over which he presided — a perjured, scheming traitor. 

Think not the entire policy of Napoleon has been the effects 
of his own individual genius. No, the kings and princes oi 
Europe despise republics too severely to permit a nation like 
their near neighbor France to possess that form of government 
with impunity. They have been the silent aiders of the crafty 
scheme, and Napoleon has been their tool. Yes, he has been the 
Judas that has betrayed the liberties of his country to those who 
feared its power if a republic. 

See what a barrier this usurpation places in the progress 
of nations in the highway of civilization. If a president can be- 



294 Constitutional Government 



come an emperor with such ease in France, what will ambitious 
presidents in the United States and other democracies attempt 
to do? Will it make free governments more popular in the eyes 
of the world for them to be thus easily subjugated, deceived and 
overthrown? It is not surprising that the people of America then 
have feared usurpation of power by a president of whom they 
were comparatively ignorant, clothed with powers possessed by 
our present president, when they behold such gross assumption 
of power just over the ocean. Abraham Lincoln differs in char- 
acter from Louis Napoleon, possessing a noble and patriotic 
nature, so there is really no need of fear, yet we cannot be sur- 
prised that there is such fear expressed by some in this country 
after considering the destruction of the French Democracy. 

The reduction of Mexico was the unfolding of a policy that 
destroyed the doctrine of non-intervention promulgated by Mon- 
roe that has existed for many years between the United States 
and the nations of Europe. This is a peace-preserving doc- 
trine, and its subversion opens cause for wars with foreign na- 
tions. But, in no greater degree, than the Napoleonic policy of 
declaring the treaty of 1815 a nullity threw the nations of 
Europe into uneasiness, and paved the way for transatlantic, in- 
ternational war and confusion. 

Under the guise of a peace-maker, in his policy of an Euro- 
pean Congress, the Emperor opened their doleful caves and sent 
forth with their hideous cries the blood-thirsty dogs of war. In 
fact the whole policy of this man shows the silent instigations 
of a corrupt, treacherous, and deceitful heart, and not satis- 
fied with the destruction of freedom in France, he tries to en- 
slave Mexico, and bring discord and animosity among his neigh- 
boring nations. Would that my voice had the power of thunder 
and my speech the eloquence and brilliancy of lightning, then 
I should like to sweep over France as some huge thunder cloud, 
sounding the eternal principles of liberty and universal emancipa- 
tion, with the loudest notes, in the ears of every Frenchman in 
the sunny land of France ! I should like to write with the elec- 
tric pen of lightning above its beauteous gardens, blooming fields, 
and gorgeous citieS' — Freedom to France ! Death and ignominy 
to the usurper! May the family of the Bonapartes be swallowed 
up in the same gulf of defeat and failure into which sank and 
perished their proud Napoleons ! 



LOUIS NAPOLEON. 

Louis Napoleon at once became a candidate, promised to de- 
vote himself to the maintenance of the republic, and received 



Constitutional Governmeiit 295 



5,000,000 out of 7,000,000 of the votes of the deluded populace. 
He was merely another ambitious Napoleon, tlie nephew of his 
renowned uncle, who coveted a throne to which neither he nor 
his uncle ever had an inherited or legitimate right, both being 
absolute usurpers, from start to finish. He treacherously ac- 
cepted the presidency, intending to subvert and destroy the re- 
public. This he soon succeeded in doing. The constitution of 
July 14, 1862, extended his rule ten years as president and fol- 
lowing the example of his uncle he soon gained the throne. The 
senatus consultum ratified the fraudulent and enforced plebicite 
of November 21 and 22, making him emperor. 

By a senatus-consulti of April 20, 1870 (approved by a ple- 
bicite of May 8, following), important changes were made in the 
constitution. These reforms, however, came too late to save the 
Napoleonic dynasty. A merited and foreordained doom 
swiftly descended upon the usurpers of the ancient throne of 
France. The avenging sword of the house of Hohenzollern, once 
humiliated by the first Napoleon, like a flash of lightning from 
a clear sky, ended the career of the nephew at Sedan, as that 
of the uncle was terminated at Waterloo. 



SITUATION FOLLOWING THE STIRRING EVENTS OF 187O, DESCRIBED 
IN CORRESPONDENCE OF MAN WHO SUPPRESSED THE COMMUNE. 

A historical letter written by M. Adolphe Thiers in 1876, 
and hitherto unpublished, has been placed at the disposal of the 
Temps and published by that paper. The letter is of much in- 
terest coming from the pen of the man who suppressed the Com- 
mune and as president of the Republic in 187 1 gave all his en- 
ergy to clearing France of the Germans and to the paying of the 
indemnity. 

The Temps says of the letter that in a few pages it contains 
a portrait of Thiers, gives a summary of a period of history, 
and imparts some instruction in political philosophy. 

The letter translated is as follows : 

Paris, 12 Aug. 1876. 

]My dear Mr. Tchitcherine, 

You will forgive me for being behindhand in consideration of 
the fact that I have a great deal more to do than I have time to 
do it in. Not that I give the whole of my time to politics ; I do 
so when I am in charge of public afifairs, to the point of forget- 
ting everything else; but when the responsibility is on other 
people's shoulders, I leave it to them entirely, not selfishly, but 
out of consideration to their authority. God grant they get 
through with it all right, for our sakes and for everybody's. 



296 Constitutional Government 



Rid of the cares of state I give my whole time, or that which 
I can spare from my work as deputy, to study. Your brother- 
in-law, Count Kapnist, a very enlightened and lovable man, w'ill 
give you news of me, for I often see him, and always wdth pleas- 
ure. He will tell you that I give all my attention to my work, 
and that I do not get in the way much of those at the helm. 

I received your letter wath great pleasure, and am glad that 
you remember me so afifectionately. You have witnessed part of 
my long and hard working life both from a distance and near 
at hand, and you have been able to judge of the sincerity and 
constancy of my opinions. In all good faith, I have wished for 
and endeavored to establish a constitutional monarchy. 

Belonging to a good family of the magistrature, connected 
with a rich industrial famil}^ of good standing before the period 
of the Revolution, educated in a college of the first empire, there 
was nothing to dissuade me from a liberal monarchy, everything 
on the contrary, bound me to it, my parents, my education, which 
was both of a liberal and a military character, and lastly my own 
inclinations. 



PRINCES ARE CRITICIZED. 

I would have accepted it from Charles X., from Louis Phil- 
ippe, and even from Napoleon III. But these three princes, with 
the best intentions no doubt, but with deplorable blindness, did 
everything that lay in their power to prevent its success. The 
true idea of a liberal monarchy is that the prince should efiface 
himself in order that those unto whom power has been dele- 
gated may follow the lead of the country. But every one of 
them wanted to govern in accordance with his own views, with 
quite good intentions, but in such a manner as to offend every 
national instinct. 

Charles X. thought he had the church to defend ; Louis Phil- 
ippe wished to please Europe in order to obtain her support ; 
Napoleon III. wanted to give himself something of the air of 
his famous uncle — they all three pursued obstinately their own 
intentions in direct opposition to the trend of the country. The 
result was the fall of the monarchy on three successive occasions, 
after w^hich a further trial of it was impossible. 

It would be necessary to have seen the condition of affairs in 
Bordeaux to recognize to wdiat extent I allowed circumstances 
to govern my course of action. They turned to me because 
there was nothing else they could do. I was not beloved by the 
Royalists because they knew that I should never be a passive 
instrument in their hands. 



Constitutional Government 297 



LIBERALS SYMPATHETIC. 

The Liberals were sympathetically inclined, but they feared 
my former monarchic leanings; they all put up with me, each 
party reserving to itself the right to desert me should I show 
any leanings to any of the three existing parties. I had neither 
a soldier nor a silver crown with which to face the 800,000 for- 
eign soldiers who were masters of France. It was in such a 
situation that I had to govern, maintaining my balance between 
all parties, not one of which gave me frank support. 

I crushed a furious insurrection, which had got the upper hand 
in a capital armed to the teeth; I got rid of the Prussians by 
keeping my engagements, entering into financial operations 
which had no precedent, and finally I succeeded in restoring a 
little order and much confidence. Seeing the work I was doing, 
the Republican party took heart and supported me, but I was 
furiously attacked by the Royalists ; I let them do and say what 
they pleased, giving my entire attention to freeing the country. 

But once the liberation obtained, I was compelled to close on 
the three Monarchist parties and to compel them either to accept 
the republic, which I considered the only form of government 
possible, or else to establish a monarchy, if they thought them- 
selves capable of undertaking the task. They preferred the lat- 
ter alternative and I gave them an absolutely free hand. They 
failed utterly, and proved completely that the republic was the 
only possible solution. 

The situation at present is certainly a difficult one, with a 
country which has accepted the republican form of government 
and a government that hates the republic. The results are un- 
fortunate disagreements which may some day lead to serious 
dangers. With wisdom it may be possible to meet the situation. 
The great thing is to do everything possible to preserve peace. 
Your emperor, who is profoundly respected in France, desires 
peace, and he is right. But Slav sympathies are disquieting 
Europe to some extent ; she would regard with despair a rupture 
brought about by Oriental agitations. 

Believe me, everybody desires peace, and be assured that in 
spite of our misfortunes we are not those who need it most. 
May we all preserve peace with dignity. I have written to you at 
length, as to an old friend, and believe me, the kindly feelings 
which you bear toward me are fully returned, I should be very 
happy if you could come and see us. I am spending three months 
in Switzerland in order to go on with my book. If the fancy 
should take you to travel a little in Europe, I would enjoy to 
talk with you of the whole universe — no less. Adieu. Adieu. 

A. THIERS. 
(Christian Science Monitor.) 



298 Constitutional Government 



FRANCE A REPUBLIC AGAIN. 

When the nations of Europe discover that competent rulers 
bom with a genius for governing, Hke Peter the Great, JuHus 
Caesar, Napoleon, Washington, and Lincoln, are not necessarily 
born in the family of kings or emperors, like the demoralized 
Charles II. of England and the dissipated Charles X. of France, 
they will cease placing little puppets on thrones simply on ac- 
count of their ancestors. 

The better element in France outside of Paris, as well as in 
it, must assert itself, as its like does in the United States, and 
place the government above the plane of non-Christian nations. 
Respect should be shown to all sects, giving equal freedom and 
action. No amount of ability and public service can make up for 
an utter lack of principle and morality on the part of those 
charged with the various duties of administering the affairs of 
government. No republic, nor any other government can long 
stand on a foundation other than justice and morality. 

THIERS ELECTED PRESIDENT, 1871. 

Until Louis Adolphe Thiers, called the "Liberator of the 
Territory," became president of the restored republic, August 
3, 187 1, the instability of republican institutions in France, vacil- 
lating through the fickleness of the people and the plotting of 
pseudo kings and emperors and their adherents, calling them- 
selves monarchists, and the inability of the nation to maintain a 
government of this character, discredited republicanism and 
served the purpose of the Holy Alliance, formed by the Emperor 
of Austria, the Czar of Russia, and the King of Prussia and 
backed by Metternich and all monarchists generally, to check 
such promulgation in Europe and throughout the world. 

It has been stated that France under a republic was less 
loyal to Christianity than under the old monarchical system. 
There is no reason why this should be. Republicanism in the 
United States and Switzerland and other republics shows as 
much respect for religion as is shown in other governments. If 
there is any lack of religion it is not on account of the form of 
government, but of atheism and the demoralization of the people, 
who would be the same under a monarchy. Of the forty min- 
istries which came into existence in France from 1870 to 1900 
none lasted more than twenty months, "according to the season 
at which they assumed the reins of power." 

The ministry of M. Poincare established January, 1912, was 
the forty-fifth since 1875, 37 years. 



Constitutional Government 299 



THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE. 

The present constitutional laws of France provided only for 
the bare organization of the public authority, and can be amend- 
ed virtually at will by the legislature ; while the constitutions of 
Switzerland, Germany and the United States go into great detail, 
and that of the United States only with the greatest difficulty. 
The result is that the French constitution although written and 
technically rigid, bears from the point of view of rigidity in far 
closer resemblance to the constitution of England than that of 
the United States. (A. Lawrence Lowell). 

"In the preparation of the English texts of French Consti- 
tutional and organic laws use has been made of the translation 
of Professor Charles F. A. Currier, issued as a supplement to 
the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science of Fear 1893. 

The following extracts relating to the Constitution of France 
were taken from Walter Fairleigh Dodd's work on Modern 
Constitutions, University of Chicago, 1912: 

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC 

POWERS. 

{February 2j, iS/j.) 

Article i. The legislative power shall be exercised by two 
assemblies : the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. 

LAW RE-ESTABLISHING SINGLE DISTRICTS FOR THE ELECTION OF 

DEPUTIES. 

Article L Arts, i, 2, and 3, of the law of June 16, 1885, 
are repealed. 

Article 2. Members of the Chamber of Deputies shall be 
elected by single districts. Each administrative arrondissement 
in the departments, and each municipal arrondissement at Paris 
and at Lyons, shall elect one deputy. Arrondissements the pop- 
ulation of which exceeds one hundred thousand inhabitants shall 
elect an additional deputy for every one hundred thousand or 
fraction of one hundred thousand inhabitants. Arrondissements 
in such cases shall be divided into districts, a table of which is 
annexed to the present law and shall only be changed by law. 

Article 3. One deputy is assigned to the territory of Bel- 
fort, six to Algeria, and ten to the colonies, as is indicated 
by the table. (See Jouvenal Official, Feb. 14, 1889, modified July 
22, 1893 and March 30, 1902.) 



300 Constitutional Government 



Article 4. On and after the promulgation of the present 
law, until the renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, vacancies 
occurring in the Chamber of Deputies shall not be filled. 



LAW ON PARLIAMENTARY INCOMPATIBILITIES. 

{December 26, 1887.) 

Until the passage of a special law on parliamentary incom- 
patibilities, Acts 8 and 9 of the law of November 30, 1875, shall 
apply to senatorial elections. 

Every officer affected by this provision who has had twenty 
years of service and is fifty years of age, at the time of his ac- 



ceptance of the office as senator, may establish his rights to a 
proportional retiring pension, which shall be governed by the 
third paragraph of the law of June 9, 1853. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE SENATE. 

{December p, l88Jf). 

Article i. The senate shall be composed of three hundred 
members, elected by the departments and the colonies. 

The present members, without any distinction between Sen- 
ators elected by the National Assembly or by the Senate and 
those elected by the departments and colonies, shall retain their 
offices during the time for which they have been chosen. 

Article 11. The department of the Seine shall elect ten 
senators. 

The department of the Nord shall elect eight senators. 

The following departments shall elect five senators each : 
Cotes-du-Nord, Finistere, Gironde, Ille-et-vilaine, Loire, Loire- 
Inferieure, Pas-de-Calais, Rhone, Saone-et-Loire, Seine-In- 
ferieure. 

The following departments shall elect four senators each : 
Aisne, Bouches-de-Rhone, Charente-Inferieure, Dordogne, 
Haute-Garonne, Isere, Maine-et-Loire, Manche, Morihan, Puy- 
de-Dome, Seine-et-Oise, Somme. 

The following departments shall elect three senators each : 
Ain, Allier, Ardeche, Ardennes, Aube, Aude, Aveyron, Calva- 
dos, Charente, Cher, Correze, Corse, Cote d'Or, Creuse, Doubs, 
Drome, Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Gard, Gers, Herault, Indre, Indre- 
et-Loire, Jura, Landes, Loir-et-Cher, Haute-Loir, Loiret, Lot, 



Constitutional Government 301 



Lot-et-Garonne, Marne, Haute-Marne, Mayenne, Meurthe-et- 
Moselle, Meuse, Nievre, Oise, Orne, Basses-Pyrenees, Haute- 
Saone, Sarthe, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, Seine-et-Marne, Deux- 
Sevres, Tarn, Var, Vendee, Vienne, Haute-Vienne, Haute- 
Vienne, Vosges, Yonne. 

The following departments shall elect two senators each : 
Rasses-Alpes, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Ariege, Cantal, 
Lozere, Hautes-Pyrenees, Pyrenees-Orientales, Tarn-et-Garonne, 
Vaucluse. 

The following shall elect one senator each : The territory 
of Belfort, the three departments of Algeria, the four colonies : 
Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion, and French Indies. (Dodd, 
Modern Constitutions, Vol. i pp. 310, 311.) 

Act of July 20, 1895, "No one may become a member of 
either branch of Parliament unless he has complied with the law 
regarding military service. 

Law of February 2^, iSy^. 

Article 8. The chambers shall have the right by separate 
resolution, taken in each by an absolute majority vote, either 
upon their own initiative or upon the request of the President 
of the republic to declare a revision of the constitutional laws 
necessary. 

After the two chambers shall have come to this decision, 
they shall meet together in national assembly to proceed with the 
revision. 

The acts affecting the revision of the constitutional laws, in 
whole or in part, shall be passed by an absolute majority of the 
members composing the national assembly. 

Law of August ij, l88Jf. 

The republican form of government shall not be made the 
subject of a proposed revision. 

Members of families that have reigned in France are inele- 
gible for the Presidency of the Republic. 

Act of July 16, 1875. 

Article 9. The President of the republic shall not declare 
war without the previous consent of the two chambers. 



302 Constitutional Government. 



Act of July Tfj, 1875. 

Article 12. The President of the repubhc may be im- 
peached by the Chamber of Deputies only, and may be tried only 
by the Senate. 



THE PRESIDENT, 

Article 2. Law of February 25, 1875. The President of 
the Republic shall be elected by an absolute majority of the votes 
of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. He shall be elected 
for seven years. He is re-eligible. 

Article 3. The President of the republic shall have the 
initiative of laws, concurrently with the members of the two 
chambers. He shall promulgate the laws when they have been 
voted by the two chambers. Pie shall look after and secure their 
execution. 

Every act of the President of the republic shall be counter- 
signed by a minister. "Under the French system of government 
functions that are of a purely executive character are vested in 
a President of the republic and ministers assisted by a numer- 
ous and highly centralized body of administrative officials." 

"The President is elected every seven years and is paid a 
salary of one million two hundred thousand francs, half as sal- 
ary, and half to cover travelling expenses and outlays incumbent 
upon him as the official representative of the nation." 

"The President's authority is but nominal." 

"There is no living functionary who occupies a more piti- 
able position than a French President. The old kings of France 
reigned and governed. The constitutional king, according to M. 
Thiers, reigned but did not govern. The President of the United 
States governs but does not reign. It has been reserved for the 
President of the French republic neither to reign nor yet to gov- 
ern." (Henry Maine, Popular Government, London, 1885, 250.) 

The weakness of the French President's position, says Fred- 
erick Austin Ogg, arises specially from two causes in the con- 
stitutional law of February 25, 1875. "One of these stipulates 
that every act of the President of the republic shall be counter- 
signed by a minister. The other provides that the ministers shall 
be collectively responsible to the chambers for the general policy 
of the government, and individually for their personal acts." 

"In government, however, the most logical system is not 
always the best, and the anomalous position of the President of 
France has saved France from the danger of his trying to make 



Constitutional Government 303 



himself dictator, while the fact that he is independent of the 
changing moods of the chambers has given to the republic a dig- 
nity and stability it has not enjoyed before." (A. Lawrence 
Lowell, Governments in Continental Europe). 

There are twelve ministerial portfolios created by executive 
decree. 

(i) Interior; (2) Finance; (3) War; (4) Justice and Pub- 
lic Worship; (5) Marine; (6) Colonies; (7) Public Instruction; 
(8) Foreign Affairs; (9) Commerce; (10) Agriculture; (11) 
Public Work's; and Posts, and telephones; (12) Labor. 

Lazv of February I6, i8y5. 

Article 5. The President of the Republic may, with the 
advice of the Senate, dissolve the Chambers of Deputies before 
the legal expiration of its time. 

Law of August Ij, 1884. 

Article 12. Paragraph two of Article 5, of the Constitu- 
tional Law of February 25, 1875, is amended as follows: 

"In that case the electoral colleges shall meet for a new 
election within two months and the Chambers within ten days 
following the close of the election." 

THE MINISTRY. 

The reason that the ministers are responsible for the gener- 
al policy of the government is to establish the parliamentary sys- 
tem, making the French ministry responsible to the Chamber of 
Deputies, the same as the English ministry is to the House of 
Commons, resigning on a hostile vote on any matter of import- 
ance. 

According to Article 12, Law of July 16, 1875, the ministers 
may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies for offenses com- 
mitted in the performance of their duties, in which case they shall 
be tried by the Senate. 

The ministry is changed very often, forty-five different min- 
isters having been selected since 1875, at the time when Poin- 
care's ministry was established January 1912. 

June 30, 1910, the Briand ministry brought forward the 
Electoral Reform Bill. Its essential features were, (i) A re- 
turn to the scrutin de liste, with a department as the electoral 
area, save that a department entitled to more than fifteen depu- 



304 Constitutional Government 



ties, should for electoral purposes, be divided, and one entitled 
to fewer than four, should be united with another: (2) An allot- 
ment of one deputy to every 70,000 inhabitants, or a major frac- 
tion thereof; (3) The division of the total number of the elec- 
toral on the register within a department by the number of depu- 
ties to which the department shall be entitled, the quotient to 
supply the names by to determine the number of deputies re- 
turned to the Chamber from each competing ticket ; (4) the de- 
termination of this number by division of the foregoing quotient 
into the average number of votes obtained by the candidates on 
each competing ticket, thus introducing the element proportional 
representation; (5) The making up of tickets in each depart- 
ment from candidates nominated by one hundred electors; (6) 
The restriction of each elector to vote for but a single ticket; 
and (7) the extension of the life of the chamber from four to 
six years, one third of the members chosen bi-annually. In the 
ministerial declaration accompanying the announcement of this 
scheme Premier Briand declared that the effect of the scrutin 
d'arrondissement had been to narrow the political horizon of the 
deputies ; that the electoral area must be broadened so that the 
interests of the nation must be made to predominate over those 
of the district; and that, while in a democracy the majority must 
rule the Government was favorable to proportional representa- 
tion in so far as the adoption of that principle can prevent the 
suppression of really important minorities. 

During the early months subsequently of 1912 a consider- 
ation of this bill was pressed in the Chamber and July 10 the 
whole of the Government Electoral Reform Bill was adopted by 
a vote of 339 to 217. At the date of writing, October 1912, the 
measure is pending in the Senate. (Frederick Austin Ogg, Gov- 
ernments of Europe). 



DEBATE ON ELECTORAL REFORM. 

A recent Paris dispatch says that an extremely interesting de- 
bate took place in the Chamber recently in consequence of a bill 
submitted by Pugliesi Conti who asked that the question of elec- 
toral reform be settled by a referendum, and demanded imme- 
diate discussion on the grounds of urgency. 

It is supposed that this action was prompted by the dead- 
lock that has been created through the Senate having repeatedly 
rejected the reform bill as passed by the Chamber, and more re- 
sently by the refusal of the Senate committee to consider any of 
the concessions that the Chamber asked for. 

It was considered that this referendum would be a means 



Constitutional Government 305 

of relieving the advanced sections of the Liberal party and the 
Socialists of any unpleasant consequences at the hands of their 
constituents at the forthcoming elections, through their unsym- 
pathetic attitude toward the reform. 

The debate was carried on with considerable opposition. 
Andre Hesse in reply to Pugliesi Conti said that the motion was 
not even tenable and that the constitution gave to the Chambers 
a power which they had no right to delegate. M. Doumergue, 
the president of the council, also opposed the motion on the 
grounds that it was unconstitutional and the debate was then con- 
tinued by the Socialist members, and became specially interesting 
from the fact that it drew from M. Briand a speech which is 
regarded as a very notable one. 

M. Briand began by saying that he opposed the bill not only 
for the reason already stated by the previous speakers, but for a 
further one to which he desired to draw the attention of the 
Chamber. Four years ago at a similar epoch, a few months be- 
fore the general elections, the question of electoral reform had 
been raised, and the feeling of the Chamber had been one of 
approval. 

He was himself in office at the time and thought it right to 
ask the Chamber to leave so important a reform to be decided 
by the country itself. The elections afterwards took place, and 
they had reason, as the representatives of those elections, to look 
back and ask themselves what they had accomplished. 

M. Briand's question drew forth immense applause, after 
which he went on to say that on various occasions they had de- 
clared that the wish of their electors had been clearly expressed 
in favor of electoral reform. They had even, on various occa- 
sions, voted the "scrutin de liste" with representation for minor- 
ities, and as chief of the government he had gone before the 
Senate to support their decision as being their best idea of uni- 
versal suffrage. The Senate had rejected their wish, and he 
wished to ask them if they themselves were beginning to waver, 
of if they had the smallest doubt as to the feeling of the country. 

On the very eve of the elections it would look as though they 
felt the need, with regard to this question which had weighed 
so heavily on Parliament, of turning again to the country, won- 
dering if, after all, the Senate were in the right and they in the 
wrong. They had stirred the whole country to its very depths, 
and had represented this question as the most serious and urgent 
of all, and yet they were now ready to declare weakly and dis- 
consolately that they simply did not know what to do, thus show- 
ing the most deplorable weakness. 

He had himself fought for this reform with the conviction 
that it responded to the needs of the country, and it was not by 



306 Constitutional Government 



means of a referendum that they could now ask for the country's 
reply. As representatives of universal suffrage it was for them 
to stand firm and declare that they had not been misled as to the 
feelings of the country, and were fully convinced that those feel- 
ings had not changed. He would like to know whether, in case 
the vote were again rejected by the Senate, they intended then 
to ask for a further referendum so as not to disturb the various 
parliamentary groups. 

On the eve of the last elections, M. Briand said, he had told 
them that the problem of universal sufifrage to be laid before the 
electors was a delicate one, and that it must be settled by them 
on the understanding that there must be no coalitions. These 
coalitions had, nevertheless, been formed, and he wanted to know 
whether this most essential parliamentary reform was going to 
be abandoned, and whether those who had said at the public 
meetings that nothing in the way of political progress could be 
accomplished without electoral reform, were now going to aban- 
don their ideas of such reform in favor of new combinations, or 
for the sake of electoral convenience and custom. If they were 
going to do this the country alone could judge them. 

It was for these reasons, the speaker said, that he would not 
vote for a referendum which could only be humiliating to the 
representatives of universal sufifrage. On putting the bill to the 
vote it was rejected by 385 votes to 175, the latter figure repre- 
senting the votes of the Socialists and the members of the right. 

THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM. 

"The theory of the parliamentary system is based upon the 
idea that the government of the country is entrusted to a com- 
mittee the members of which are jointly responsible to the pop- 
ular chamber for the whole conduct of the administration, so 
that a hostile vote on any question is a condemnation of each and 
all of them. Hence the theory implied that the ministers must 
cling to each other and present to the chamber a single front and 
a consistent policy." 

"In almost all the states on the continent this is true to some 
extent ; and various methods of parliamentary procedure already 
mentioned, together with certain peculiarities of condition and 
temperament among the people have tended to foster it." 

"The English parliamentary practice has been generally fol- 
lowed so far as the form is concerned and the whole cabinet ha- 
bitually resigns on a hostile vote of the chambers ; but in sub- 
stance the ministers are by no means jointly responsible, because 
as soon as they have resigned a new cabinet is formed which 



Constitutional Government 307 



often contains several members of the old one. (Governments 
of Continental Europe, Lowell, page 213, Vol. i.) 

The great distinction between a constitutional monarchy and 
a constitutional representative republic is in having a monarch 
or king in the executive chair who holds his office for life and 
passes it on to his successor, while a president is elected by the 
people for a limited term of years. 

The king or emperor claims the divine right to rule and 
places himself upon a pedestal above the people and assumes 
a superiority over them which he seldom earns, or attains by his 
own ability. 



THE CODE CIVIL OR CODE NAPOLEON. 

Napoleon, when First Consul, appointed a special commis- 
sion to draft a code. Difficult questions were referred to the 
Council of State over which Napoleon often presided. A new 
Code Civile de Francais was promulgated March 31, 1804. Con- 
sequently it has been in operation no years. 

Since September 4, 1870, it has been called the code civil. 
It is patterned after the Institutes of Justinian in some respects. 
Many changes have been made since 1871. A commission was 
appointed in 1904 to revise the code, containing 2,281 articles. 
(See La Code Civil, livre due Centenaire, Paris, 1904.) 

There are four other codes. 

The Code Civil Procedure, of 1,042 articles. 

The Code of Commerce, 648 articles. 

The Code of Criminal Instruction, 648 articles. 

The Penal Code. 284 articles. 
"In accordance with the French interpretation of the theory 
of the separation of powers, it is the general rule on the con- 
tinent of Europe that the ordinary courts administer only pri- 
vate laws between citizens and the questions affecting the rights 
and status of public officials are withdrawn from their jurisdic- 
tion." (A. Lawrence Lowell, Government of England, Vol. i, 

P- 7-) 

"In France there is a distinction between public law and 
private law. There are ordinary administrative courts. Each 
maintains exclusive jurisdiction. There is one law for the citi- 
zen and another for the public official. The judges of the ad- 
ministration courts can be removed by the president; the ordi- 
nary judges cannot be removed without the consent of the Court 
of Cassation. These are appointed by the President on the rec- 
ommendation of the minister of justice. 



308 Constitutional Government 



"A tribunal is appointed to settle questions of jurisdiction, 
composed of the minister of justice, of three members of the 
highest Court of Cassation, of three members of the highest ad- 
ministration court. 

"All the members are chosen for three years except the minis- 
ter of justice, who presides." (See Prof. Dicey's Law of the 
Constitution, Chap. XII., Comparison English and French Sys- 
tems). 

History shows that the vacilating methods in France were 
brought about mostly during the period in which the monarchi- 
cal system of government prevailed. The success of any republic 
rests upon the belief in a Divine Ruler, above the government, not 
in the divine right of earthly kings as claimed by monarchies ; and 
upon universal compulsory education and loyalty to the constitu- 
tion, which should be regarded with more respect than any king, 
because it is the great charter of the people's liberty. 

The French republic has in some measure gained prestige 
since 1871, and eight presidents have managed under many diffi- 
culties to continue the republican form to the present time. 
Louis Adolphe Thiers 1871-1873; Marshal MacMahon, who 
favored a monarchy, 1873-1870; Jules Grevy, 1879-1887; F. 
Sadi-Carnot, 1887-1894, murdered at Lyons by an anarchist 1894, 
Casimir-Perier. June T894-June 1895, Resigned; Felix Faure. 
1913, and Raymond Poincare, January 17th, 1913. Elected for 
seven years. 

Instead of paying 25,000,000 francs to a king or emperor, 
the republic now pays its president, equally if not more compe- 
tent to rule, the sum of 1,200,000 francs a year, half as his sal- 
ary and half to cover traveling expenses and the outlays incum- 
bent upon him as the official representative of the nation. 

french ministry resigns; and aristide briand forms new 
ministry: foremost frenchman on UST. 

I916. 

Aristide Briand, premier and minister of foreign aflfairs ; 
Charles De Freycinet, vice president of the cabinet and minister 
of state; Gen. J. S. Gallieni, minister of war; Rene Viviani, 
minister of justice; Louis J. Malvy, minister of the interior; Rear 
Admiral Lacaze, minister of marine; Alexander Ribot, minister 
of finance; Prof. Paul Painleve, minister of public instruction 
and inventions concerning national defense ; Marcel Sembat, min- 
ister of public works; Etienne Clementel, minister of commerce; 
Gaston Dumergue, minister of colonies; Jules Meline, minister 
of agriculture; Albert Metin, minister of labor; Emil Combes, 



Constitutional Government 309 



Leon Bourgeois, Denys Cochin, and Jules Guesde, ministers 
without portfoHo. 

PRESIDENT POINCARE PREDICTS THE END OF THE WAR. 

A Paris dispatch says: "Nineteen hundred and sixteen will 
be our year of victory," says Monsieur Poincare in a New Year 
message to "The Officers and Soldiers of France," which was 
distributed along the the whole front. 

Everywhere it is the same, he says, a determined resolution to 
hold fast, to endure and to vanquish. Shall we tomorrow be the 
vassals of a foreign empire? Shall our industries, our com- 
merce, our agriculture be placed forever under the influence of 
a power which openly flatters itself on aspiring to universal dom- 
ination, or shall we safeguard our economic independence and 
national autonomy? 

This is a terrible problem, which admits of no halfway solu- 
tion. Any peace which came to us with suspicious form and 
equivocal purpose would bring us only dishonor, ruin and servi- 
tude. The free and pure genius of our race, our most venerated 
traditions, the ideas which are dearest to us, the interests of our 
citizens, the fortunes of our country, the soul of the nation, ev- 
erything which has been left by our ancestors and all that we 
ourselves own would be the prey of Germanic brutality. 

No French persons desired this war. All the governments 
since 1871 have endeavored to avoid such a war. Now that it 
has been declared against us in spite of ourselves, we must carry 
it on with our faithful allies until we have gained victory, the 
annihilation of German militarism and the entire reconstitution 
of France. 

You will win, the message concludes. The year which is be- 
ginning will bring you, my friends, elation of heart for having 
accomplished the defeat of the enemy and the joy of returning 
to your homes, there to celebrate the victory calmly with those 
whom you love. (Christian Science Monitor.) 

FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR ANNIVERSARY. 

July 24, 1915 was the forty-fifth anniversary of the declara- 
tion of war by France against Prussia, which took place July 
19, 1870. It had been reported that war was declared on the 
15th, and indeed ever since that day war had been certain, but 
each side put ofif the formal break in the hope of gaining a slight 
moral advantage by forcing the other to make it, and not until 
July 19 did Napoleon III. definitely announce a state of war. 



310 Constitutional Government 



On July 15, 1870, the New York Times said editorially: "It 
is still neither war nor peace. The Emperor is like a man on the 
verge of taking a step which must be irrevocable and may over- 
whelm him in disaster." These remarks could have been par- 
alleled from any New York paper during the last week of July, 
1914. The Emperor here referred to, of course, is Napoleon III. 
Further on in the same article occurs the passage: "M. Prevost 
Paradol insisted two years ago that it was the destiny of France 
to crush the colossus which threatened to bestride Europe. 
* * * But the Emperor has allowed no one to suspect his 
plans, preferring to let his project break upon the world like a 
thunderbolt from a clear sky. * * * Before many people 
understand what it all about two vast armies will have met in the 
shock of battle. 

Indeed, it was not till a long time later that people understood 
just what it was about ; the pretext was the candidacy of a 
Hohenzollern Prince for the throne of Spain, but the candidacy 
was withdrawn on July 12. War was precipitated by Bis- 
marck's editing of the famous telegram from Ems describing the 
interview between the King of Prussia and Count Benedetti, the 
French Minister, in which the latter presented Napoleon's de- 
mand that the candidacy should not recur, and was politely re- 
fused. Bismarck so altered the news message as to make it ap- 
pear that there were practically reciprocal insults. The funda- 
mental cause, however, was the rivalry between France and 
Prussia for the dominant position on the Continent, with which 
was bound up the German desire to unify the nation and Napol- 
eon's unwillingness to see this great power grow up on his fron- 
tier, and the constant series if irritations which had grown up 
out of Napoleon's vain attempt to get "compensation" for the 
successive gains of Prussia in the previous decade. 

On July 18, 1870, The New York Times quoted The London 
Times as saying: "France without a shadow of excuse or jus- 
tification plunges Europe into a war of which no living person 
may see the end," and continues : "The proofs increase every 
hour that this will be a war of colossal magnitude. It is said that 
the United States cannot possibly be drawn into it. But how 
can there be any certainty of that? A misunderstanding with 
regard to an American vessel, intercepted on the high seas by 
a belligerent power, might compel us to take an attitude which 
would end the war." And on the same page there is an editorial 
with the familiar heading: "Where Are Our Merchant Ships?" 

The war which followed lasted about seven months, saw the 
overthrow of the French Empire after the first month of disas- 
ters, the rebuilding of a provisional Government which heroically 
defended Paris in a long siege and raised enormous volunteer 



Constitutional Government 311 



armies to relieve the capital, and the final surrender of France 
after Paris had capitulated and the untrained armies of the 
south had been beaten. France lost Alsace and Lorraine and 
paid $1,000,000,000 war indemnity. 

With all the striking parallels between the situation in the 
Summers of 1870 and 1914, there are two remarkable contrasts. 
One is the speed of mobilization. In 1870 both sides began to 
mobilize July 15, but it was eighteen days later, Aug. 2, before 
the first skirmish occurred at Saarbruecken, and not till Aug. 6 
was the first pitched battle between entire armies. 

Last year mobilization began in the last day or so of July. 
The first general engagements took place between the 15th and 
20th of August, but this delay was due to the fact that the Ger- 
mans were marching through Belgium, and the French had 
wasted much of their martial strength in the Alsatian adven- 
ture. The attacks on Liege on Aug. 5, less than a week after 
mobilization began, were an engagement of greater magnitude 
than that of Weissenburg, fought Aug. 4, 1870, after each side 
had had more than three weeks to get ready. 

The other difference lies in the fact that while in each case 
Germany beat France at the start, in 1870 her victories were 
decisive. MacMahon's army was so badly beaten at Woerth on 
Aug. 6 that it had to retire to Chalons, and did not recover for 
two or three weeks. Meanwhile, the other great French army, 
that of Bazaine, had been outflanked, headed oft' at Mars-la- 
Tour and Gravelotte, and finally driven back into Metz and shut 
up. Then MacMahon was attacked and annihilated at Sedan. 

The French defeats at Charleroi and in Luxemburg and the 
British defeat at Mons last August, were not as severe as that 
of Woerth, in the first place ; and Joffre kept his troops in hand. 
Instead of being outflanked or headed off, he held his armies to- 
gether, and finally stopped the Germans on the Marne. 



FRENCH SCIENTISTS FORSEE A NEW FRANCE. 

"France and the French After the War" is the subject of 
much speculation by philosophers, scientists, and doctors. Emile 
Boutroux, the French philosopher, thinks France will come out 
of the trial better and greater in spite of all of the destruction 
of life and property, says the Associated Press. 

"So many human lives taken, so many masterpieces of the past 
reduced to powder, so much artistic and material wealth anni- 
hilated stupefies us and leaves our souls in incurable pain," he 
says. "All these sacrifices, however, may in certain ways con- 
tribute directly to the betterment of life in our country. 



312 Constitutional Government 



"Our cities and the country contain a great many unhealthy 
habitations," he declares, "that we were unable to decide our- 
selves to demolish. We hesitated before the difficulties and be- 
fore the expense. War has put us face to face with the accom- 
plished fact. Unhealthy and incommodious buildings have dis- 
appeared and will be replaced by constructions conforming to 
hygienic laws and to the needs of modern life. Many defective 
conditions of our existence will thus be improved by the recon- 
struction that will be imposed upon us. 

"Death awakens life. After 1870 France pulled herself to- 
gether and pushed out vigorously in every direction. What shall 
be its power of development after this terrible trial, above all 
if the issue is favorable to us ? 

"The cause of the low birthrate," Boutreaux thinks, "resides 
primarily in selfishness and the disposition to consider only the 
present or the immediate future. With confidence in the future, 
with a vast distant perspective opened up, there is awakened a 
desire to glorify one's self in one's descendants. * * * A 
vast career will open up before science, before art, literature, and 
before practical activity in all its forms. 

"Measures that are most contrary to the indiliference of yes- 
terday are today accepted without objection, such as the prohibi- 
tion of the traffic of absinthe. Civilization has been loaded down 
with a thousand fictitious needs, foreign and harmful to nature; 
a great many of them are so many chains upon nature, and as 
many causes of fragility and weakness. Now, all at once, lack- 
ing all these superfluities, we feel no sense of privation. We 
are conscious, on the contrary, of re-entering upon full posses- 
sion of our strength and of being better able to dispose of it for 
the accomplishment of useful work. 

"War," he says, "not only liberates us from selfish passions, 
but teaches positive virtues ; the value of decision, intrepidity, 
sacrifices of life to honor and to the fatherland ; it requires of us 
patience, and this people who were thought incapable of sup- 
porting in silence long and painful trials, this people of whom its 
enemies said that 'they would come to their aid by insurrection' 
remained calm and resolute. * * * The French, it was said, 
were not apt to act collectively. Their incurable individualism 
precluded vivacity of mind and talent, except to combat one an- 
other. Examples they have given of unity and the efficiency of 
collective effort will have as important an effect upon France of 
the future as any other of the lessons of the war." 

Dr. Chauffard, of the Academy of Medicine, before the Alli- 
ance d'Hygiene Sociale, speaking of the mobilization order and 
comparing it to one of the great physical phenomena which con- 
stantly trouble the universe, like earthquakes, tidal waves, &c.. 



Constitutional Government 313 



says that "the manner in which France supported the shock 
augurs well for the health of the race after the war." 

"Adaptation," he says, "is the greatest law of biology, for we 
live and preserve our physical and moral life by adaptation only. 
He who is incapable of adapting himself succumbs. The French 
race adapted itself admirably to this unforeseen danger, and to 
realize this it is only sufhcient to remember what Paris and what 
France were at the moment the mobilization order was published. 
For the calm confidence with which each one went to his duty we 
are indebted to a quality that we did not know we possessed per- 
haps to that degree — nervous stability, to the mastery of our- 
selves, to the control that we have not lost of our nervous system. 

"In a collectivity there are always a certain number of in- 
dividuals who suffice for their daily life, but who are unable to 
accomplish a more arduous task or to support an unforeseen 
shock. When the hour of the trial arrives those succumb. They 
lose their heads. During the first days of the mobilization a 
number of such subjects profoundly troubled mentally, arrived 
at the hospitals, but in reality their number in proportion to the 
number of healthy subjects was very small, and many of these 
troubles were of very short duration. The trial was severe, but 
it was to our honor because it bears witness that the French race 
has not degenerated. 

"We knew by long experience that every war involves the out- 
break of a great many diseases, and we were very agreeably as- 
tonished during the first three months of this war that sickness 
was very rare in all our sanitary stations. The army in bar- 
racks reflects the state of health of the civil population wath 
which it is associated. If we were not at war we should now see 
the diseases of the season appear in all our garrisons, but on 
the contrary, the army in action is remarkably free from them, 
and, fortunately, in proportion to the dead, the wounded and the 
sick there will remain a far greater number who have escaped all 
the dangers. These will come back hardened, more resistant 
than they were before, ennobled, ripened and better tempered 
physically as morally." 

This improved condition of the survivors, Dr. Chauffard 
thinks, will more than offset the decrease in the birthrate, due 
to the many deaths, and for that reason he considers that the 
general physical condition of the French race will be improved 
by the war. 



Constitutio7ial Government 315 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CONSTITUTION OF NORWAY. 

Norway had existed as an independent kingdom from 872 
until 1397 when Queen Margrete of Denmark (mother of the 
last Norwegian king, Olaf Haakonson) joined the three king- 
doms, Norway, Denmark and Sweden by the "Union of Kal- 
mar." Sweden broke away from this union in 1524, but Nor- 
way remained under Danish rule (practically as a province) till 
the peace of Kiel, January 14, 1814, when it was given up to 
Sweden by Denmark. This was met with a determined opposi- 
tion from the Norwegian people, who immediately established 
a provisional government and elected delegates to a Diet which 
on May 17, 1814. promulgated the "Constitution of Norway." 
The former Danish viceroy in Norway, Prince Christian Fred- 
erik (later king of Denmark), was elected king. A war with 
Sv^^eden resulted, lasting until August, 1814. when, at the Con- 
vention of IMoss, the two kingdoms were united, and the crown 
passed to the Swedish king, Carl XIII. The new constitution 
adopted November 4. 1814, provides that "Norway is a free, 
independent, indivisible and inalienable kingdom united to 
Sweden under one king," the united kingdoms in their foreign 
relations to be regarded as one state, but in all else to be inde- 
pendent sovereignties with two distinct forms of government. 

The attempts of Carl XIII. (1814-1818), and his successor. 
Carl XIV., Johan (1818-1844), to override the constitution and 
extend the royal prerogatives led to many parliamentary con- 
tests, some of them quite serious. A better feeling existed dur- 
ing the reign of Oscar I. (1844-59), and Carl XV. (1859-1872), 
but when Oscar II. became king in 1872 the bond between the 
two nations had practically been reduced to a mere personal 
union. When, in 1897. the radical party in Norway came into 
power, the Storthing passed several acts providing for a separate 
diplomatic and consular service for Norway, for the elimination 
of the "union jack" in the Norwegian flag, and for several other 
changes in the constitution along the same lines. The king 
strongly opposed these attempts to give the country greater in- 
dependence, and although he finally yielded on the flag question 
the dissatisfaction increased until, in the spring of 1905, the 
Storthing, backed by the unanimous vote of the people, termin- 



316 Constitutional Government 



ated the alliance with Sweden, and issued a declaration of inde- 
pendence. A Danish prince, Carl, was elected king and as such 
assumed the name of Haakon VII. The changes in the constitu- 
tion necessitated by the altered conditions were made by the same 
Storthing. Very few changes have since been made, the only 
noteworthy one being the act of June ii, 1913, which grants 
women equal franchise with men (Section 50 of the Constitution) 
— the first legislation of its kind in Europe. 

— Peter B. Oesen. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY. 
Translated from the edition oe may 17, 1914, published 

BY authority of THE PARLIAMENT OF NORWAY. 

A. RELIGION AND FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 

Article i. The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, 
indivisible and inalienable state. Its form of government is a 
limited, hereditary monarchy. 

Article 2. The Evangelical Lutheran religion shall continue 
as the established religion of the state. Such inhabitants as pro- 
fess the same shall educate their children therein. Jesuits must 
not be tolerated. 

B. THE EXECUTIVE POWER, THE KING AND THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

Article 3. The executive power shall be vested in the King. 

Article 4. The King shall constantly profess, maintain and 
defend the Evangelical Lutheran religion. 

Article 5. The King's person is sacred; he can neither be 
censured nor impeached. The responsibility rests on his min- 
istry. 

Article 6. The succession shall be lineal and agnatic so that 
only a son born in wedlock can succeed the father. The nearer 
line shall precede the farther, and the older person in the line 
the younger. 

A posthumous child shall be deemed in the line of succession, 
and shall take his appropriate place therein as soon as born. 
When a Prince who is heir to the Crown of Norway is born, his 
name and date of birth shall be reported to the next Storthing 
in session, and entered in its journal. 

Article 7. If no Prince, heir to the Crown, be living, the 
King may propose a successor to the Storthing which shall have 



Constitutional Government 317 



power to choose a successor, if the choice of the King is not ap- 
proved. 

Article 8. The age of majority of the King shall be pre- 
scribed by law. The King shall publicly proclaim himself of age 
as soon as he has attained his majority. 

Article 9. As soon as the King, on coming of age, assumes 
the government, he shall take the following oath before the 
Storthing: "I promise and swear that I will govern the kingdom 
of Norway in conformity with its constitution and laws, so help 
me the all-powerful, omniscient God." If no Storthing is then 
in session, the oath shall be deposited in writing with the min- 
istry, and shall be soleninly repeated by the King, at the next 
Storthing. 

Article 10. Repealed, March 14, 1908. 

Article ii. The King shall reside in Norway and must not 
leave the country for a longer period than six months at a time 
without permission from the Storthing. Otherwise he shall for- 
feit his right to the throne. 

The King must not accept any other crown or govern any 
other country without the consent of the Storthing by a two- 
thirds vote. 

Article 12. The King shall appoint a ministry of Norwegian 
citizens, who shall be not less than thirty years of age. The 
ministry shall consist of one Minister of State, and not less than 
seven other members. The King shall apportion the public busi- 
ness among the members of the ministry in such manner as he 
deems best. The King, may, on extraordinary occasions, in addi- 
tion to the regular members of the ministry, summon other Nor- 
wegian citizens, not members of the Storthing, to a seat in the 
ministry. Father and son, or two brothers, shall not have a seat 
in the ministry at the same time. 

Article 13. When traveling within the boundaries of Nor- 
way the King may leave the administration of the domestic af- 
fairs of the realm to the ministry, who shall carry on the gov- 
ernment in the name and on behalf of the King. They shall 
sacredly conform as well to the provisions of this constitution 
as to the several instructions in harmony therewith, prescribed 
to them by the King. Their transactions shall be determined by 
vote, and in case of an equal division the Minister of State, or, 
in his absence, the senior member, shall have two votes. 

They shall present to the King a record of all cases disposed of 
by them. 

Article 14. Repealed, June 30, 1891. 

Article 15. Repealed, November 18, 1905. 

Article 16. The King shall prescribe rules for all public re- 
ligious and church service and for all meetings and conventions 



318 Constitutional Government 



relating to religious affairs, and he shall take care that the public 
instructors of religion adhere to the standards prescribed for 
them. 

Article 17. The King may enact and repeal ordinances re- 
lating to commerce, customs, industrial pursuits and public or- 
der, not, however, in conflict with the constitution or the laws 
of the Storthing, passed pursuant to the provisions of articles 
■/J, 78 and 79 of this constitution. Such acts of the King shall 
remain provisionally in force until the next session of the Storth- 
ing. 

Article 18. The King shall, ordinarily, cause the taxes and 
imposts, levied by the Storthing to be collected. 

Article 19. The King shall take care that the estates and re- 
galia of the State be used and managed in the manner prescribed 
by the Storthing, and to the greatest advantage of the public. 

Article 20. The King shall have power, in council, to pardon 
offenders after conviction. The offender shall, however, have 
the option to accept the pardon of the King or to suffer the pun- 
ishment adjudged. No pardon or reprieve, except the remission 
of the death penalty, shall be granted in cases prosecuted by the 
Odelsthing in the Court of Impeachment. 

Article 21. The King, after hearing his Ministry, shall ap- 
point and induct all civil, ecclesiastical and military officials, who 
shall take an oath of obedience and fealty to the Constitution of 
the King, or who, if relieved by law from such an oath, shall 
solemnly declare their fealty to the same. Royal Princes shall 
not hold civil office. 

Article 22. The King may, after taking the advice of the 
Ministry, without the warrant of judicial decree, remove from 
office the Minister of State and other members of his cabinet as 
well as officials in the bureaus of the Ministry. Ambassadors and 
Consuls, the chief civil and ecclesiastical officials, the highest 
commanding officers of regiments and other military bodies, of 
forts and of men-of-war. Whether pensions shall be granted to 
officials thus removed, shall be determined by the next Storthing, 
but in the meantime they shall continue to receive two-thirds of 
their former salary. 

Other officials are only liable to suspension by the King, and 
when suspended, shall at once be proceeded against in the Courts, 
and shall not without judgment be removed, nor transferred 
without their consent. 

Any public official may be discharged without action of a court 
when he has reached a certain age. to be fixed by law. 

Article 23. The King, at his pleasure, may confer orders of 
merit, in recognition of distinguished services, to be publicly an- 
nounced, but no other rank or title than that conferred by an 



Constitutional Government 319 



office occupied. Such orders shall reUeve no one from the duties 
and burdens common to all citizens, nor shall they confer any 
preference in securing admission to the public service. Officials, 
honorably discharged, shall retain the title and rank of the office 
they occupied. No personal or mixed hereditary prerogatives 
shall hereafter be conferred on anyone. 

Article 24. The King may, at pleasure, select and dismiss 
the employes and officers of his royal household. 

Article 25. The King shall be Commander-in-Chief of the 
land and naval forces of the realm. These forces shall neither 
be increased nor diminished without the consent of the Storthing. 
They shall not be placed in the service of foreign powers, nor 
shall the military forces of any foreign powers, except auxiliary 
troops to repel hostile attack, be brought within the realm with- 
out the consent of the Storthing. 

Norway's troops and coast flotilla shall not be employed in of- 
fensive war without the consent of the Storthing. The home 
guard and other Norwegian troops, not classed as troops of the 
line, shall never be employed outside of the boundaries of Nor- 
way without the consent of the Storthing. 

Article 26. The King shall have power to call out the troops, 
to commence war and make peace, to enter into treaties, and to 
abrogate the same, and to send and receive diplomatic representa- 
tives. (Repealed, 1905.) 

Article 27. All members of the Ministry without valid ex- 
cuse, shall attend the cabinet meetings, and no action shall be 
taken when less than one-half of the members are present. 

Article 28. Communications concerning appointments to of- 
fice and other matters of importance shall be presented for con- 
sideration to the Ministry by the member thereof in whose de- 
partment the business belongs, and he shall dispose of the same 
conformable to the decision of the Ministry. Orders of a strictly 
military nature are excepted from this rule to such an extent as 
the King shall decide. 

Article 29. If a member of the Ministry is unable, for valid 
cause, to attend and present for consideration matters pertain- 
ing to his department, the same shall be presented by another 
member of the Ministry, appointed for that purpose by the King. 
If, for valid cause, so many are absent that not more than half 
of the regular members are in attendance, then other officials 
shall be appointed, in the same manner, to sit in the Ministry 
temporarily. 

Article 30. The Ministry shall keep a record of all business 
transacted by it. A separate record shall be kept of such diplo- 
matic matters and such orders to the Army as the [Ministry de- 
cides to keep secret. 



320 Constitutional Government 



It shall be the duty of every member of the Ministry to fear- 
lessly express his opinion, to which the King shall listen, but he 
may' decide according to his own judgment. If any member of 
the Ministry finds that the decision of the King is in conflict with 
the form of government or the laws of the realm, or is mani- 
festly detrimental to the country, it is his duty to vigorously pro- 
test against the same, and to enter his objections in the record. 
He who does not thus protest, shall be deemed to have con- 
curred with the King, and shall be accountable therefor, as sub- 
sequently determined, and may be impeached by the Odelsthing 
in the Court of Impeachment. 

Article 31. All decrees issued by the King shall be counter- 
signed in order to be valid. Military commands shall be counter- 
signed by the member who has charge of them, and other matters 
by the Minister of State or, in his absence, by the ranking mem- 
ber present. 

Article 32. Decisions made by the Ministry during the ab- 
sence of the King, shall be issued in his name, and attested by 
the Ministry. 

Repealed, Aug, 12, 1908. 

Article 34. The heir apparent, if son of the reigning King, 
shall bear the title of Crown Prince. The other royal heirs shall 
be known as Princes, and the royal daughters as Princesses. 

Article 35. As soon as the heir apparent has filled his i8th 
year, he shall be entitled to take his seat in the Ministry, but 
without vote or responsibility. 

Article 36. No Prince of the blood shall marry without the 
consent of the King nor must he accept any other crown or gov- 
ern any other country without the consent of the King and of 
the Storthing (by a two-thirds majority). If he violates this 
rule, he shall forfeit his right to the crown of Norway. 

Article 37. The royal Princes and Princesses shall, personal- 
ly, only be answerable to the King, or to such judge as he may 
ordain for them. 

Repealed, Nov. 18, 1905. 

Article 39. If the King dies and his successor is still under 
age, the Ministry shall immediately issue a call for a (special) 
session of the Storthing. 

Article 40. Until the Storthing is convened and has provided 
for the government during the minority of the King, the affairs 
of the government shall be conducted by the Ministry in con- 
formity with the Constitution. 

Article 41. If the King is absent from the country without 
being engaged in war, or is too ill to conduct the administration, 
the prince who is entitled to the succession, if of age, shall con- 



Constitutional Government 321 



duct the administration as the temporary representative of the 
King. If not, the ministry shall conduct the affairs of state. 

Article 42. Repealed, Nov. 18, 1905. 

Article 43. The selection of a Regency to conduct the ad- 
ministration for the King during his minority shall be made by 
the Storthing. 

Article 44. The prince who conducts the administration in 
the cases provided for in Article 41, aforesaid, shall take the 
following oath in writing before the Storthing: 

"I promise and swear that I will conduct the administration of 
the government according to the constitution and the laws, so 
help me God, the omnipotent and omniscient." If the Storthing 
is not at that time in session, the oath shall be deposited with 
the ministry. 

A prince who has once taken this oath, does not repeat it. 

Article 45- As soon as the administration of the Ministry 
shall cease, they shall render an account of the same to the King 
and the Storthing. 

Article 46. If those on whom it is incumbent, pursuant to 
Article 39 fail to immediately convene the Storthing, it shall be 
the peremptory duty of the Supreme court, after a lapse of four 
weeks, to convene the same. 

Article 47. The management of the education of a King 
under age, shall, if his father has left no written directions con- 
cerning the same, be provided for by the Storthing. It shall be 
the invariable rule to give the King, during his minority, ample 
instruction in the Norwegian language. 

Article 48. If the royal male line be extinct, and no successor 
has been selected, a new line of kings shall be chosen by the 
Storthing. Meanwhile the government shall be conducted as in 
Article 40 provided. 



c. citizenship and the law-making power. 

Article 49. The people shall exercise the legislative power 
through a Storthing, composed of two bodies, a Lagthing and 
an Odelsthing. 

Article 50. All Norwegian citizens, male and female, dwell- 
ing within the realm, who have attained the age of 25 years and 
have been residents of the country for five years, shall be quali- 
fied voters. 

Article 51. Rules for the registration and recording of 
voters shall be prescribed by law. 

Article 52. The right of suffrage shall be suspended by : 

a) Indictment for criminal offenses, according to statute ; by 



322 Constitutional Government 



b) being placed uyider guardianship; and in cases where 

c) Repealed March 7, 1914. 

d) husband, wife, or children under fifteen years of age, 
being supported, or have during one year immediately preceding 
the election, been supported as public paupers, unless the amount 
of such support has been refunded by such person before the 
close of registration. 

Support rendered in the form of being placed in a hospital or 
an asylum, or to cover other expenses in cases of sickness, for 
the education of mentally delinquent children, for specially pre- 
scribed education of children in schools, or for supplying chil- 
dren with free school books and supplies, shall not cause suspen- 
sion of the right of sufifrage. 

Article 53. The right of suffrage shall be forfeited by; 

a) having been sentenced for criminal ofifenses according to 
statute ; by 

b) entering the service of a foreign power, without the consent 
of the government; by 

c) acquiring citizenship in a foreign country; and by 

d) being convicted of buying votes, of selling one's own vote, 
or of voting more than once in any one election. 

Article 54. Elections and electoral meetings shall be held 
every third year. They shall be concluded before the end of the 
month of November. 

Article 55. Elections shall be managed according to rules 
prescribed by law. Controversies about the right to vote shall 
be determined by the judges of election from whose decision ap- 
peal may be taken to the Storthing. 

Article 56. Articles 50 to 64 of this Constitution shall be 
audibly read by the presiding judge of election before the voting 
begins. 

Article 57. The Cities shall elect forty-one representatives 
to the Storthing. Of this number, one shall be elected from 
Aalesund and Molde combined; one from Arendal and Grimstad 
combined, four from Bergen, one from Bodo and Narvik 
combined, one from Brevik and Holmestrand combined, two 
from Drammen, one from Flekkefjord, one from Frederikshala, 
one from Frederikstad, one from Hammerfest, Vardo og Vadso 
combined, one from Haugesund, one from Horten, one from 
Kongsberg and Honefoss, one from Kragero, five from Kris- 
tiania, two from Kristianssand, one from Kristiansund, one from 
Larvik and Sande fjord combined, one from Lillehammer, Hamar, 
Gjovik og KongsA'inger combined, one from Moss and Drobak 
combined, one from Porsgrund, one from Risor, one from Sarps- 
borg, one from Skien, two from Stavanger, one from Tromso, 



Constitutional Government 323 



four from Trondhjem and Levanger combined, and one from 
Tonsberg. 

Cities not named above, or which may be hereafter founded, 
shall be attached to such election district as may be provided by 
law. 

§ 59- The rural districts shall elect eighty-two representa- 
tives to the Storthing. Of these, five shall be elected from the 
county of Akershus, five from the county of Nordre Bergenhus, 
six from Londre, Bergenhus, four from Bratsberg, four from 
Buskerud, two from Finmarken, six from Hedemarken, four 
from Jarlsberg and Laurvik, five from Kristian, four from Lis- 
ter and Mandal, four from Nedenes, six from Nordland, five 
from Romsdal, five from Smaalenene, five from Stavanger, three 
from Tromso. four from Nordre Trondhjem, and five from 
Sondre Trondhjem. 

§ 59. The number of representatives shall always be in the 
ratio of one from the cities to two from the rural districts. 

Every legislative district in which more than one representa- 
tive is elected shall be divided into as many election districts as 
there are representatves to be elected. Rules for such division 
and for the management of the elections shall be prescribed by 
law ; provided, that, in addition to the provisions of this Con- 
stitution, the following rules shall be observed : 

a) Every city and, in the rural districts, every parish and 
every organized village, shall constitute an election precinct. 
Where a city has two or more election districts, each such dis- 
trict shall constitute a precinct. A part of a city wdiich is com- 
bined with one or more other cities in one district, shall be a 
precinct. In the rural districts an election district shall consist 
of the same or contiguous election precincts. Changes in the 
boundaries of an election district which are not necessitated by 
a change in the general administrative districts of the country, 
shall have no effect on the election of representatives to the 
Storthing for the period next following such changes. 

b) Separate elections shall be held in each precinct, at which 
a representative in the Storthing and an alternate for the district 
shall be elected by direct vote. Should a candidate for repre- 
sentative receive less than one-half of the votes cast and officially 
counted in the district, a new election shall be held, at which the 
result shall be decided by simple pluralitv or, in case of a tie, bv 
lot. 

Article 60. Qualified voters, being within the country, who, 
by reason of sickness, military service, or other valid excuse, are 
unable to attend the polls, may, in writing, transmit their votes 
to the judges of election before the polls are closed. 

To what extent and in what manner qualified voters living out- 



324 Constitutional Government 



side the country may vote by sending their written ballots to the 
judges of election, shall be subject to legislation. 

Article 6i. No one shall be elected Representative unless he 
is thirty years of age, has resided in the country ten years, and 
is a qualified voter in the district from which he is elected. 

Article 62. Officials employed in the bureaus of the Minis- 
try and the officials and pensionaries of the Court, are ineligible 
for representatives. 

Members of the Ministry cannot sit in the Storthing as repre- 
sentatives during their term of office as ministers. 

Article 63. Whoever is elected Representative, unless elected 
under the second clause of Article 61, shall be required to accept 
the office, unless prevented by an excuse deemed valid by the 
Storthing. Whoever has served as Representative in three regu- 
lar sessions of the Storthing succeeding the same election, shall 
not be bound to accept election to the next Storthing. 

A person who is elected representative and is not bound to 
accept the election, must within the time and in the manner 
prescribed by law declare whether he will accept the office or 
not. 

If a person is elected as representative from two or more 
election districts within the district in which he is a qualified 
voter, he shall decide which election he will accept within such 
tme and in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. 

Article 64. The representatives-elect shall be furnished with 
certificates of their election, the validity of which shall be passed 
upon by the Storthing. 

Article 65. Each representative, and each alternate, who has 
served as such shall be entitled to compensation from the State 
treasury for traveling expenses to and from the Storthing, and 
from the Storthing to his home, and return, for a vacation of 
at least one month, and for medical attendance and cure in case 
of sickness. 

He shall also be paid a salary of three thousand crowns for 
attendance at a regular session of the Storthing. 

If a representative and an alternate from the same district both 
have served in a regular session, the salary shall be divided be- 
tween them according to the length of time each has served. 

For attendance at an extra session the compensation shall be 
twelve crowns per day. 

Article 66. Representatives shall, except when apprehended 
in public ofifences, be exempt from arrest during their attendance 
at the Storthing and in going to and returning from the same ; 
and they shall not be answerable, outside of the sessions of the 
Storthing, for the expression of their views therein. But every 



Constitutional Government 325 



Representative shall conform to the established rules of pro- 
cedure. 

Article 67. The Representatives elected in the manner afore- 
said shall constitute the Storthing of the Kingdom of Norway. 

Article 68. The Storthing shall, as a rule, convene on the 
first week-day after the tenth day of January in each year, at 
the capital of the Kingdom, except when the King, on account of 
extraordinary circumstances, such as hostile invasion or con- 
tagious disease, shall designate some other city in the realm 
therefor. Timely notice of such designation shall, in such case, 
be published. 

Article 69. The King may, on extraordinary occasions, con- 
vene the Storthing at other than the usual time. In such case 
the King shall issue a proclamation which shall be read in all 
the churches of the County seats at least fourteen days before 
the members of the Storthing shall assemble at the place pre- 
scribed. 

Article 70. Such extra session may be adjourned by the 
King at his pleasure. 

Article 71. The members of the Storthing shall serve as 
such for three successive years, as well at all extra as at all reg- 
ular sessions that may in the meantime be held. 

Article y2. If the Storthing be assembled in extra session at 
the time a regular Storthing convenes, the former shall adjourn 
before the latter assembles. 

Article yz- The Storthing shall select from its members one- 
fourth who shall constitute the Lagthing; the remaining three- 
fourths shall constitute the Odelsthing. This selection shall be 
made at the first regular Storthing which convenes after an elec- 
tion, and thereafter the Lagthing shall remain unchanged in all 
Storthings assembled after the same election, except in cases of 
vacancy, which shall be filled by special election. Each Thing 
shall hold its sessions separately, and select its own President and 
Secretary. Neither Thing shall be in session unless two-thirds 
of its members are present. 

Article 74. As soon as the Storthing has organized, the King, 
or whoever he may appoint therefor, shall open its proceedings 
with a speech from the Throne, wherein he shall give informa- 
tion regarding the condition of the kingdom and the matters to 
which he especially desires to direct the attention of the Storth- 
ing. No deliberation shall take place in the presence of the 
King. 

After the session of the Storthing has been opened, the Min- 
ister of State and the members of the Ministry shall be entitled to 
sit in the Storthing and in both branches thereof, and to partici- 
pate in the proceedings, without the right to vote, in open session 



326 Constitutional Government 



on a footing of equality with the members, and in executive ses- 
sion only to the extent permitted by the Thing. 
Article 75. The Storthing shall have power: 

a) To enact and repeal laws ; to levy taxes, imposts, duties, and 
other public assessments, but such levy shall not remain in force 
beyond the first day of July in the year in which the next regu- 
lar Storthing convenes, unless expressly revived by the latter. 

b) To borrow money on the credit of the Kingdom; 

c) To regulate the currency of the Kingdom; 

d) To appropriate the moneys necessary for the expenditures 
of the government ; 

e) To determine the amount which shall yearly be paid to the 
King for the maintenance of his royal household, and to settle 
the appanage of the royal family, which shall not, however, con- 
sist of landed estates ; 

/) To cause to be laid before it the Journal of the Ministry 
and all official reports and documents ; provided, that the records 
of diplomatic affairs and military commands which _ are of a 
secret nature shall be submitted to a committee consisting of not 
more than nine members selected from the membership of the 
Odelsthing, and they may also be submitted to the Odelsthing if 
a member of said committee demands that this branch of the 
Storthing shall consider the same, or that suit be brought in the 
Court of Impeachment. 

g) To cause to be communicated to it the Alliances and Treat- 
ies which the King, on behalf of the state, has entered into with 
foreign powers. Secret articles and treaties which, however, 
must not conflict with those that are published, shall be treated 
according to the rules laid down in this section, litra f., concern- 
ing matters of a secret nature. 

h) To summon any person to appear before it, in state affairs, 
except the King and royal family; but this exception shall not 
apply to royal princes holding public office ; 

i) To revise temporary salary and pension lists, and to make 
such changes therein as may be deemed necessary; 

k) To appoint five auditors, who shall each year audit the ac- 
counts of the State and publish printed extracts of the same;_and 
for this purpose the accounts shall be submitted to the auditors 
within six months from the expiration of the vear for which the 
appropriations of the Storthing have been made ; 

/) To naturalize foreigners. 

Article 76. Every bill shall first be introduced in the Odels- 
thing, either by a member thereof or by the Ministry through one 
of its members. If the bill is there passed, it_ shall be sent to 
the Lagthing, which may concur in or reject it. In the latter 
case it shall be returned with objections appended, and the same 



Constitutional Government 327 

shall be considered by the Odelsthing, which may either in- 
definitely postpone the bill or return it to the Lagthing with or 
without amendment. When a bill from the Odelsthing has been 
twice presented to the Lagthing and has been returned a second 
time, rejected, the entire Storthing shall assemble in joint session 
and by a two-thirds vote dispose of the bill. At least three days 
must intervene between every such distinct consideration of the 
bill. 

Article 77. When a measure, passed by the Odelsthing, has 
been concurred in by the Lagthing or passed by the Storthing in 
joint session, it shall be sent to the King, w'ith a request for his 
approval. 

Article 78. If the King approve the measure, he shall affix 
his signature thereto, whereby it becomes a law. If he disap- 
prove the same, he shall return it to the Odelsthing with the 
statement that for the time being he does not find it expedient to 
approve the same, in which case the measure shall not be again 
submitted to the King at the same session of the vStorthing. 

Article 79. If a measure has been passed without amend- 
ment by three regular Storthings, convened after three separate 
and successive elections, and separated from each other by not 
less than two intervening regular Storthings, and no law in con- 
flict therewith having in the meantime, from the first to the last 
passage, been passed by any Storthing, and the measure is then 
presented to the King with the request that his Majesty will not 
refuse his approval to a measure which the Storthing, after the 
most mature consideration, deem beneficial, it shall become a law 
notwithstanding the King fails to approve the same before the 
adjournment of the Storthing. 

Article 80. The Storthing may remain in session as long as 
it deems necessary. When, after having finished its proceedings, 
it is adjourned by the King, he shall communicate to it his action 
upon the measures passed, (see § § 77-79) by approving or re- 
jecting the same. All measures not expressly approved by him, 
shall be deemed rejected. 

Article 81. All laws (except those passed pursuant to § 79) 
shall be promulgated in the name of the King, and under the Seal 
of the Kingdom of Norway, in the following words : 

"We, — N. N. — make known that there has this day been pre- 
sented to us an Act of the Storthing of the following tenor: 
(here follows the Act) which we have accepted and approved 
and hereby accept and approve, as law, under our hand and the 
seal of the State." 

Article 82. Repealed July 7, 1913. 

Article 83. The Storthing shall have the right to procure 
the opinion of the Supreme Court upon judicial subjects. 



328 Constitutional Government 



Article 84. The Storthing shall sit in open session, and its 
proceedings shall be printed and published, except in cases other- 
wise determined by a majority vote. 

Article 85. Whoever shall obey a command, the purpose of 
which is to interfere with the freedom and safety of the Stor- 
thing, is guilty of treason against his country. 



D. the judicial power. 

Article 86. The members of the Lagthing, together with the 
Supreme Court (but if the members of the Lagthing or of the 
Supreme court exceed in number respectively thirty-one and 
nine, then, by lot, thirty members of the Lagthing and its pres- 
ident, and eight members of the Supreme court and its pre- 
siding justice) shall constitute the Court of Impeachment, which 
shall try, without appeal, cases instituted by the Odelsthing 
against members of the Ministry and members of the Supreme 
Court for malfeasance in office, and against members of the 
Storthing for offences committed by them in their official capac- 
ity. The President of the Lagthing shall preside in the Court of 
Impeachment. 

Article 87. The accused may, without cause, challenge as 
many as one-third of the members of the Court of Impeachment, 
provided, however, that the court shall not consist of less than 
fifteen members. 

Article 88. The Supreme Court shall be the tribunal of last 
resort, but limitation of admission of cases before the court may 
be made by law. 

The Supreme Court shall consist of a presiding justice and at 
least six associate justices. 

Article 89. In military cases the Supreme Court shall be aug- 
mented by two high military officers appointed by the King. 

Article 90. The decisions of the Supreme Court shall in no 
case be appealed. 

Article 91. No one shall be appointed a member of the Su- 
preme Court before he is thirty years of age. 

E. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Article 92. Public offices shall be filled only by Norwegian 
citizens who speak the language of the country, and: 

a) Who are born within the realm of parents who then were 
citizens of the country ; or 

b) Who are born in foreign countries of Norwegian parents, 
not citizens of another nation; or 



Constitutional Government 329 



c) Who shall hereafter reside ten years within the realm; or 

d) Who shall be naturalized by the Storthing. 

Persons without these qualifications may however, be ap- 
pointed instructors in the university and the higher schools, and 
consuls in foreign places. 

No person shall be appointed a high magistrate before he is 
thirty years of age, nor an inferior judge, magistrate, or tax col- 
lector before he is twenty-five years of age. 

Only persons who profess the established religion of the State 
can be members of the ^Ministry. Rules governing the public 
offices in this respect shall be prescribed by law. 

To what extent women who possess the qualifications for hold- 
ing public office required of men under this constitution may 
be appointed to such offices shall be prescribed by law. 

Article 93. Repealed, November 18, 1905. 

Article 94. Measures shall be taken to enact, at the next reg- 
ular Storthing, or if this is not possible, at the following one, a 
new general civil and criminal code. In the meantime the existing 
laws of the State shall remain in force so far as they are not in 
conflict with this Constitution or temporary ordinances mean- 
while issued. Permanent taxes now existing shall continue as 
levied until the next Storthing. 

Article 95. No dispensations, writs of protection, or letters 
of respite or reparation, shall be granted after the new general 
code takes efifect. 

Article 96. No one shall be tried except pursuant to law, nor 
punished except pursuant to judgment. Examination by means 
of torture is prohibited. 

Article 97. No law shall be given retroactive effect. 

Article 98. Fees paid to officials of Courts of Justice shall 
not be subject to any state tax. 

Article 99. No one shall be arrested except in cases and 
manner prescribed by law. Whoever causes an unauthorized ar- 
rest, or unlawful detention, shall be answerable therefor to the 
person confined. The government shall have no right to employ 
military force against the citizens otherwise than pursuant to law, 
except in the case of an assembly disturbing the public peace and 
not immediately dispersing after the civil magistrate has three 
times audibly read to them the articles in the public code relat- 
ing to riot. 

Article 100. The liberty of the press shall remain inviolate. 
No one shall be punished for any writing, printed or published, 
irrespective of its contents, unless he has intentionally and openly 
manifested or urged others to manifest, disobedience to the laws, 
contempt for religion, morality, and the constitutional authorities, 
or resistance to the commands of the same, or has made false and 



330 Constitutional Government 



defamatory charges against any person. Every person shall be 
permitted to express freely his opinion upon the administration 
of public affairs, or on any other subject whatsoever. 

Article ioi. New and permanent restrictions of industrial 
pursuits shall not be granted to anyone hereafter. 

Article 102. Domiciliary visits shall not be permitted except 
in criminal cases. 

Article 103. No sanctuary shall be allowed to persons who 
hereafter become bankrupt. 

Article 104. Estates of inheritance, or distributive shares, 
shall in no case be subject to confiscation. 

Article 105. If public necessity requires any person to re- 
linquish his real or personal property for public use, he shall re- 
ceive full compensation therefor from the State Treasury. 

Article 106. The proceeds as well as the income of church 
estates shall be devoted exclusively to the benefit of the church 
and the promotion of education. The property of charitable in- 
stitutions shall be devoted exclusively to their use. 

Article 107. Allodial tenure and statutory entailment shall 
not be abolished; but the conditions under which — for the good 
of the state and the advantage of the people — the same shall 
continue, shall be prescribed by the next or the following Stor- 
thing. 

Article 108. No Earldoms, Baronies, or entailed manorial 
estates, shall hereafter be established. 

Article 109. Every citizen, without regard to birth or for- 
tune, shall, without exception, render military service to his 
country for a certain time. The application of this rule and the 
limitations to be placed on it shall be regulated by law. 

Article iio. The reserve fund 01 the State, amounting to 
forty million crowns, may be used exclusively for the preven- 
tion of danger to the Commonwealth, or for assistance in cases of 
widespread disaster in the country. The reserve fund shall be 
managed under rules prescribed by the Storthing. 

Article hi. The form and colors of the Norwegian flag 
shall be prescribed by law. 

Article 112. If experience demonstrates that any part of 
this Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway requires amend- 
ment, the proposition therefor shall be presented at the first or sec- 
ond regular Storthing, succeeding an election, and notice thereof 
shall be given by publication ; but no action shall be taken there- 
on until the first or second regular Storthing succeeding the next 
election. Such amendment shall not contravene the principles of 
this Constitution, and shall only relate to such modifications in 
single provisions as will not change the spirit of this Constitution, 
and shall be concurred in by two-thirds of the Storthing. 



Constitutional Government 331 



An amendment to the Constitution so adopted shall be signed 
by the president and secretary of the Storthing, and forwarded to 
the King for publication as part of the Constitution of the King- 
dom of Norway. 



GKNERAI, LOWZOW TAIvKS ON NORWAY AND PREPAREDNESS. 

Christiania, Norway — General Lowzow, a former minister of 
defense, in a lecture given upon the defense of Norway, said: 
We are a small nation who have nothing to win by a war. The 
powers are doing what they can to draw more countries into the 
war, each on their own side, or, if they find it advantageous, to 
force the smaller states into the war on the side of the opponent. 
The neutral states have already felt the inconveniences of the 
war, though what we have hitherto seen is a trifle. When the 
big battle fleets commence their fight in the North sea, and not 
till then, will the danger be great for our country. Then we may 
be obliged to take sides. 

After the first days of the crisis had passed, the people took it 
for granted that Norv/ay would not intervene. The danger of 
war is just as great as before, and it depends on our preparing 
with might and man for all eventualities. Everything must now 
be done in order to improve our defense in the best possible way. 
(Christian Science Monitor). 



Constitutional Government 333 



OTHER CONSTITUTIONS. 

The University of Chicago press has publislied two large vol- 
umes entitled "Modern Constitutions," by Walter Fairleigh Dodd, 
which contain the full text of the Canadian, Mexican, Central 
and South American constitutions and most of the modern con- 
stitutions of Europe, except Portugal, and including that of Ger- 
many, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Japan, and Rnssia. It does 
not include the constitutions of Prussia, China, the Ottoman Em- 
pire, or the revised constitution of Norway, which are published 
in this work. 

I would recommend the study of Professor Dodd's valuable col- 
lection, with very comprehensive historical and bibliographical 
notes. I also wish to call attention to the work of Prof. A. Law- 
rence Lowell, president of Harvard University, entitled "Govern- 
ments and Parties in Continental Europe," in two volumes, and 
also his work on the English Government. 

Frederick Austin Ogg, Ph. D., has published a work entitled 
"The Governments of Europe," Macmillan Company, New York, 
1913. This gives a thorough account of many constitutions of 
European nations with extensive notes. 

The constitution of Prussia which I have included in this work, 
is taken from a supplement to the Annals of the American Acad- 
emy of Political and Social Science, vol. 5, Number 2, Sept., 1894, 
translated by James Harvey Robinson, Ph. D., University of Penn- 
sylvania, a copy of which was sent me by the author. This sup- 
plement comprises also a sketch of the origin and nature of the 
Prussian constitution, with copious notes to the text. 

CHINA. 

The latest constitutional government claiming recognition among 
the nations of the world is China, one of the oldest nations known 
to history, extending over an immense territory in Asia, with a 
population of some three hundred and fifty millions. 

The following revised provisional constitution, which appears 
to me to be partly copied from the Japanese constitution, is en- 
tirely unsatisfactory, crude, and inadequate for practical appli- 
cation to China or any other country. It is not really republican 
in its structure. The best known constitution suitable to China 



334 Constitutional Government 



is that of Switzerland, with its federal council composed of seven 
carefully selected and competent men chosen by the advisory coun- 
cil for three years to act as counselors and direct the affairs of 
the executive department of the nation, with the co-operation of 
the president, also elected by the advisory council which is elected 
by the people. The president is elected for only one year and 
cannot succeed himself. 

Each of these counselors will have charge of one of the depart- 
ments of state. This method has worked well in Switzerland and 
the members of the federal council would give stability to the 
government and be more apt to gain the confidence of the people 
than one man given a large amount of power and occupying the 
position of a prince-president like Napoleon the Third. 

The present, constitution of China was mostly revised, dictated 
by Yuan Shi Kai, the late president, who has been succeeded by 
Li Yuan Hung, the former vice-president. Yuan Shi Kai was 
scheming to imitate Napoleon and restore the monarchical form 
of government in China. It is probable that a new constitution 
will now be drawn up and promulgated suited to the requirements 
of China. 



china's declaration of independence. 
(Address of the Republic Issued to the World Yesterday.) 

"On this eighth day of the fourth month in the second year 
of the republic of China, the date fixed for the first opening of 
our permanent national assembly, the members of the senate and 
the house of representatives, having met in these halls to celebrate 
the event, now make this declaration of their sentiments. 

"The will of Heaven is manifested through the vrill of the peo- 
ple. That the hundreds of millions of the people possess the au- 
thority of the state is not proclaimed now for the first time. The 
monarchy, so long corrupt, proved unworthy of the grave respon- 
sibilities intrusted to it by the will of the people, but with the 
introduction of popular government the representatives of the 
people must share the likes and dislikes of the people. They are 
to give expression to the desires and voice the will of the people; 
they hold the reins in behalf of the nation to govern with sever- 
ity or leniency, with parsimony or extravagance; they become the 
pivot upon which the prosperity of the state is made to turn. For 
the success or failure, safety or danger, adversity or good fortune, 
theirs is the merit or the blame. 

'•'Can we be otherwise than anxious? Yet through great tribu- 
lation the spring comes to prosperity, and our bad management 



Constitutional Government 335 



and anxieties are a means to happiness. Now, therefore, we unite 
to form this assembly and presume to publish our aspirations. 
May ours be a just government. May our five races lay aside their 
prejudices. May rain and sunshine bring bounteous harvest and 
cause the husbandman to rejoice. May the scholar be happy in 
his home and the merchant conduct his trade in peace. May no 
duty of government be unfulfilled and no hidden wound go un- 
redressed. Thus may the glory be spread abroad and these our 
words be echoed far and wide, that those in distant lands who 
hear may rejoice, our neighbors on every side give us praise, and 
may the new life of the old nation be lasting and unending. Who 
of us can dare to be neglectful of his duties !" 



CHAPTER II. THE PRESIDENT. 

Art. 14. The President is the Head of the nation, and con- 
trols the power of the entire administration. 

Art. 15. The President represents the Chung Hua Min Kuo. 

Art. 17. The President convokes the Li Fa Yuan, declares 
the opening, the suspension and the closing of the sessions. 

Art. 19. For the purposes of improving the public welfare or 
enforcing law or in accordance with the duties imposed upon him 
by law, the President may issue orders and cause orders to be 
issued, but he shall not alter the law by his order. 

Art. 20. In order to maintain public peace or to prevent ex- 
traordinary calamities at a time of great emergency when time 
will not permit the convocation of the Li Fa Yuan, the President 
may, with the approval of the Tsan Cheng Yuan, issue provisional 
orders which shall have the force of law; but in that case he shall 
ask the Li Fa Yuan for indemnification at its next session. 

Art. 21. The President shall fix the official systems and official 
regulations. The President shall appoint and dismiss military 
and civil officials. 

Art. 22. The President shall declare war and conclude peace. 

Art. 23. The President is the Commander in Chief of, and 
controls, the Army and Navy of the whole country. The President 
shall decide the system of organization and the respective strength 
of the Army and Navy. 

Art. 27. The President may confer titles of nobility, decora- 
tions, and other insignia of honour : 

Art. 28. The President may declare general amnesty, special 
pardon, commutation of punishment, or restoration of rights. In 
case of general amnesty the approval of the Li Fa Yuan must be 
secured. 



336 Constitutional Government 



CHAPTER VI. THE JUDICIARY. 

Art. 44. The judicial power shall be administered by the 
Judiciary formed by the judicial officials appointed by the Pres- 
ident. 

The organization of the Judiciary and the qualifications of the 
judicial officials shall be fixed by law. 

Art. 47. The trial of law suits in the judicial courts should be 
open to the public; but when they are deemed to be harmful to 
peace and order or good custom, they may be held in camera. 

CHAPTER VIII. FINANCES. 

Art. 50. Levying of new taxes and dues and change of tariff 
shall be decided by law. 

The taxes and dues which are now in existence shall continue 
to be collected as of old except as changed by law. 

Art. 53. To prepare for any deficiency of the budget and 
expenses needed outside of the estimates in the budget, a special 
reserve fund must be provided in the budget. 

Art. 56. When a new Budget cannot be established, the 
Budget of the previous year will be used. The same procedure 
will be adopted when the Budget fails to pass at the time when 
the fiscal year has begun. 

Art. 57. When the closed accounts of the receipts and ex- 
penditures of the nation have been audited by the House of Audit, 
they shall be submitted by the President to the Li Fa Yuan for 
approval. 

Art. 58. The organization of the House of Audit shall be 
fixed by the Provisional Constitution Conference. 

Art. 66. This Provisional Constitution may be amended at 
the request of two-thirds of the members of the Li Fa Yuan, or 
the proposal of the President, by a three-fourths majority of a 
quorum consisting of four-fifths or more of the whole member- 
ship of the House. The Provisional Constitution Conference will 
then be convoked bv the President to undertake the amendment. 



JAPAN. 

"Beginning in 1880 a vigorous political propaganda was con- 
ducted in favor of the establishment of a representative assembly; 
an imperial edict of October 12, 1881, announced that the first 
Imperial Diet would be convened in 1890. Between 1881 and 
1889 important reforms were made in the organization of the 



Constitutional Government 337 



government. The constitution was promulgated on February ii, 
1889, and at the same time were issued the Imperial House Law, 
the ordinance concerning the House of Peers, the Law of Houses, 
the election law for members of the House of Representatives, 
and the law of finance. The first Diet was formally opened on 
November 29, 1890." 



EXTRACTS FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN. 

(February 11, 1889). 

"This text has been adopted almost without change from the 
English translation issued from Tokyo 1889; the difficulty of ob- 
taining revision makes it necessary to give this constiution in the 
untechnical language in which it appears." — Walter FaireEigh 

DODD. 

Chapter L 

THE emperor. 

Article i. The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and 
governed by a line of emperors unbroken for ages eternal. 

Chapter H. 
rights and duties oe subjects. 

Art. 18. The conditions necessary for being a Japanese sub- 
ject shall be determined by law. 

Art. 19. Japanese subjects may, according to qualifications 
determined in laws or ordinances, be appointed to civil or military 
offices equally, and may fill any other public offices. 

Chapter HL 

THE imperial diet. 

Art. 33. The Imperial Diet shall consist of two houses, a 
House of Peers and a House of Representatives. 

Art. 34. The House of Peers shall, in accordance with the 
ordinance concerning the House of Peers, be composed of the 



338 Constitutional Government 



members of the imperial family of the order of nobility, and of 
those persons who have been nominated thereto by the emperor. 

Art. 35. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members elected by the people according to the provisions of the 
election law. 

Art. 36. No one shall at one and the same time be a member 
of both houses. 



Chapter IV. 

MINISTERS OF STATE AND THE PRIVY COUNCIL. 

Art. 55. The respective ministers of state shall give their ad- 
vice to the emperor and be responsible for it. 

All laws, imperial ordinances and imperial rescripts of what- 
ever kind, that relate to the affairs of state require the counter 
signature of the minister of state. 

Art. 56. The Privy Council shall, in accordance with the pro- 
visions of the organization of the Privy Council, deliberate upon 
important matters of state when they have been consulted by the 
emperor. 



Chapter V. 

THE JUDICIAL POWER. 

Art. 57. The judicial power shall be exercised by the courts 
of law according to law, in the name of the emperor. 

IMPERIAL ORDINANCE CONCERNING THE HOUSE OE PEERS. 

Article i. The House of Peers shall be composed of the fol- 
lowing members : 

1. The members of the Imperial family; 

2. Princes and Marquises, etc. ; 

3. Counts, viscounts, barons who have been elected thereto by 
the members of their respective orders ; 

4. Persons who have been specially nominated by the emperor 
on account meritorious services to the state or of erudition ; 

5. Persons who have been elected, one member each Fu (city) 
and Ken (prefecture), by and from among tax payers of 
the highest amount of direct taxes on land, industry, or 
trade therein, and who have afterwards been appointed 
thereto by the emperor. 



Constitutional Government 339 



GERMAN GOVERNMENT. 

The construction of the North German Bund, and the sub- 
sequent German Empire in its present shape, was the work of 
Bismarck more than any other man. Like the architect of a great, 
complicated edifice, he planned and directed how the empire should 
be built from foundation to dome. 

By uniting the North German States, the first step was taken 
to place Prussia in control. Then, after the Franco-Prussian war, 
the formation of the German Empire, containing in all twenty- 
five states, completed the scheme of German unity. 

By the selection of the King of Prussia, which state comprised 
three-fifths of the entire twenty-five states, as president, with the 
title of "the German Emperor," and the giving to him of the right 
to select the chancellor, one man won a degree of arbitrary power 
now almost impossible to control. 

Reichstag Is Limited. 

The legislative body elected by the qualified voters of the entire 
nation is the reichstag, but this body is so hedged about with 
restrictions that it has very little real authority. It can be dis- 
solved by the bundesrath. Its members receive no pay, which 
restricts them to those who are rich enough to pay their own 
expenses while in Berlin. 

Bismarck had very little use for universal suffrage, and saw 
that elections were held on working days instead of Sundays, as 
in France. This kept the poorer people from voting. 

The bundesrath is formed of members who are not elected by 
the people, but are delegates chosen by the different states or 
monarchies, controlled by the princes, dukes or owners of large 
estates, and form an imperial cabinet. This rule, however, does 
not apply to the three free cities, which elect their own delegates. 

Prussia has twenty votes in the bundesrath, and three-fifths 
of the votes in the reichstag, and the King of Prussia controls 
these votes thru his autocratic power under the Prussian constitu- 
tion. He also has supreme command of the army, and the con- 
tingents or troops of all the states are turned over to him. 

Monarchies in Majority. 

The Empire of Germany is composed of twenty-five states. 
All of these, except the three free cities, are monarchies. "The 
ministers are nowhere responsible," says A. Lawrence Lowell, "to 



340 Constitutional Government 



the legislative body in the parliamentary sense, and hence the 
princes exercise, personally, a great deal of power. Thruout 
Germany, therefore, the monarchical principle retains its vigor, 
and while the representatives of the people have obtained a share 
in the direction of public affairs, in no state have they drawn the 
whole conduct of the government into their own hands." 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz are little 
archaic monarchies that do not have even one representative body 
chosen by the people, but the legislative branch is controlled di- 
rectly by the grand dukes thru the landtag and langschaft. 

The government of the House cities is placed in the senate 
and the biirgerschaft. The executive power is vested in the senate, 
which consists in Hamburg of eighteen members chosen for life 
and paid. The senators are elected by the senate and the biirger- 
schaft, but members anf the biirgerschaft are elected by direct 
popular vote and secret ballot. The House cities each send one 
representative to the bundesrath. There is no grand duke or 
prince to rule over either of the three cities. 

English System Better. 

The difference between the German Empire and the English 
government is that the former concentrates all real power in the 
hands of the emperor, who is also King of Prussia, the control- 
ling state of the confederation and in the bundesrath, or herren 
house, composed of the sovereigns or their representatives in the 
several monarchical states composing the empire, and, as stated, 
delegates from the three free cities. 

In England, however, the real power is in the house of com- 
mons, which is elected by the people thru universal suffrage, and 
the ministry is accountable to the house of commons and not to 
the king. 

A change is necessary in the structure of the German nation 
as an entirety. The present organization is based on a monarch- 
ical system which is not adapted to the present advanced state 
of society in Germany and the competency of the German people. 

Either the English constitutional method should be substituted, 
where the lower house should control and be elected by universal 
unrestricted suffrage, the chancellor being selected as in England 
and accountable to the reichstag and not to the emperor, or the 
Swiss constitution should be followed and each state elect del- 
egates by universal unrestricted suffrage to the two houses, whose 
members should jointly choose the members of the federal coun- 
cil. This would do away with the entire monarchical system. 
Prussia should be divided into a number of states, so as not to 
have a preponderance of power in one state. 



Constitutional Government 341 

.THE CONSTITUTION OF PRUSSIA 

OF THE THIRTY-FIRST OF JANUARY, 185O. 

From copy furnished by James Harvey Robinson, Ph. D. 

We, Frederick William, by grace of God, King of Prussia, etc., 
hereby declare and make known that, whereas the constitution 
of the Prussian State, promulgated by us on the fifth of Decem- 
ber, 1848, subject to revision by the ordinary process of legisla- 
tion, and accepted by both chambers of our kingdom, has been 
submitted to the prescribed revision, we have finally established 
the provisions of that constitution in agreement with both 
chambers. 

We, therefore, promulgate the same as a fundamental law of 
the state, as follows : 

Title I. 

THE TERRITORY OF THE STATE. 

Article i. All parts of the monarchy in its present extent 
form the territory of the Prussian State. 

Art. 2. The boundaries of this territory can only be altered 
by law. 

Title II. 

THE RIGHTS OF PRUSSIANS. 

Art. 3. The constitution and the law determine under what 
conditions the quality and rights of a Prussian citizen may be 
acquired, exercised or forfeited. 

Art. 4. All Prussians shall be equal before the law. Class 
privileges shall not be permitted. Public offices, subject to the 
conditions imposed by law, shall be uniformly open to all who 
are competent to hold them. 

Art. 5. Personal freedom is guaranteed. The forms and 
conditions under which any limitation thereof, especially arrest, 
shall be permissible, shall be determined by law. 

Art. 6. The domicile shall be inviolable. Intrusion and 
search therein, as well as the seizing of letters and papers, shall 
be allowed only in the manner and in the cases prescribed by law. 



342 Constitutional Government 



Art. 7. No one shall be deprived of his lawful judge. Ex- 
ceptional tribunals and extraordinary commissions shall not be 
permitted. 

Art. 8. Punishments shall not be prescribed or inflicted ex- 
cept according to law. 

Art. 9. Property is inviolable. It shall only be taken or in- 
terfered with from considerations of public weal, and then only 
in a manner to be prescribed by law, and in return for a com- 
pensation to be previously determined. Even in urgent cases a 
preliminary valuation and compensation shall be made. 

Art. 10. Civil death and confiscation of property, as punish- 
ment, shall not be permitted. 

Art. II. Freedom of emigration can only be limited by the 
state, with view to military service. Migration fees shall not be 
levied. 

Art. 12. Freedom of religious confession, of association in 
religious societies (Art. 30 and 31), and of the common exercise 
of religion in private and public, is guaranteed. The enjoyment 
of civil and political rights shall not be dependent upon religious 
belief. But the exercise of religious liberty shall not be permitted 
to interfere with the civil or political duties of the citizen. 

Art. 13. Religious and ecclesiastical associations, which have 
no corporate rights, can only acquire those rights by special laws. 

Art. 14. The Christian religion shall be taken as the basis of 
those state institutions which are connected with the exercise of 
religion without prejudice to the religious liberty guaranteed by 
Article 12. 

Art. 15, 16 and 18. [Repealed June 18, 1875.] 

Art. 17. A special law shall be enacted relating to church 
patronage and to the conditions on which it may be abolished. 

Art. 19. Civil marriage shall be introduced in accordance 
with a special law which shall also regulate the keeping of a civil 
register. 

Art. 20. Science and its teachings shall be free. 

Art. 21. The education of youth shall be adequately provided 
for by public schools. Parents and their representatives shall 
not leave their children or wards without that education pre- 
scribed in the public elementary schools {Volksschulen). 

Art. 22. Every one shall be at liberty to give instruction, and 
establish institutions of learning, provided he shall have given 
proof, to the proper state authorities, of his moral, scientific and 
technical fitness. 

Art. 23. All public and private educational institutions shall 
be under the supervision of authorities appointed by the state. 
Teachers in the public schools shall have the rights and duties 
of public officials. 



Constitutional Government 343 



Art. 24. In the establishment of pubHc elementary schools, 
confessional differences shall be considered as far as possible. 

Religious instruction in the elementary schools shall be super- 
intended by the religious organizations concerned. 

The charge of the external affairs of the elementary schools 
shall belong to the community (Gemeinde). With the statutory 
co-operation of the community in the manner and to the extent 
determined by law, the State shall appoint the teachers in the 
public elementary schools from the number of those qualified. 

Art. 25. The means for establishing, maintaining and en- 
larging the public elementary schools shall be provided by the 
communities, which shall, however, be assisted by the State in 
proven cases of pecuniary inability on the part of the community. 
The obhgations of third parties, based on special legal titles, shall 
not be impaired. 

The State shall accordingly guarantee to teachers in the ele- 
mentary schools a steady income suitable to local circumstances. 

In public elementary schools education shall be imparted free 
of charge. 

Art. 26. A special law shall regulate all matters of education. 

Art. 27. Every Prussian shall be entitled to express his opin- 
ion freely by word, writing, print, or pictorial representation. 

Censorship of the press may not be introduced; and no other 
restriction on the freedom of the press shall be imposed except 
by law. 

Art. 28. Offenses committed by word, writing, print, or pic- 
torial representation shall be punished in accordance with the 
general penal code. 

Art. 29. All Prussians shall be entitled to meet in closed 
rooms, peacefully and unarmed, without previous permission 
from the authorities. 

But this provision does not apply to open-air meetings, which 
shall be subject to whatever restrictions the law may prescribe 
even with respect to previous permission from the authorities. 

Art. 30. All Prussians shall have the right to form associa- 
tions for such purposes as do not contravene the penal laws. 

The law shall regulate with special regard to insuring the public 
security, the exercise of the right guaranteed by this and the 
preceding article (29). 

Political associations may be subjected by law to restrictions 
and temporary prohibitions. 

Art. 31. The law shall determine the conditions on which 
corporate rights may be granted or refused. 

Art. 32. The right of petition shall belong to all Prussians. 
Petitions under a collective name shall be permitted only to 
public authorities and corporations. 



344 Constitutional Government 



Art. 33. The privacy of the mails shall be inviolable. The 
necessary restrictions of this right, in cases of war and of crim- 
inal investigation, shall be determined by law. 

Art. 34. All Prussians are bound to military service. The 
extent and character of this duty shall be determined by law. 

Art. 35. The army shall include all divisions of the standing 
army and the militia (Landwehr) . In the event of war, the king 
can call out the reserve militia (Landstumi) in accordance with 
the law. 

Art. 36. The military power can only be employed for the 
suppression of internal troubles, and the execution of the laws, 
in the cases and manner specified by statute, and on the requisi- 
tion of the civil authorities. In the latter respect exceptions may 
be made by law. 

Art. 37. The court-martial of the army shall be restricted to 
penal matters, and shall be regulated by law. Provisions with 
regard to military discipline shall remain the subject of special 
ordinances. 

Art. 38. The military forces shall not deliberate whether in 
active service or not ; nor shall they otherwise assemble than 
when commanded to do so. Thus assemblies and meetings of the 
militia (Landwehr) for the purpose of discussing military ar- 
rangements, commands and ordinances, are forbidden, even when 
they are not in active service. 

Art. 39. The provisions of Arts. 5, 6, 29, 30 and 32 shall 
apply to the army only in so far as they do not conflict with 
military laws and rules of discipline. 

Art. 40. [As amended by the law of June 5, 1852.] 

Art. 2. The establishment of feudal tenures is forbidden. 

The feudal bond {Lehnsverhand) still existing with respect to 
surviving fiefs shall be dissolved by law. 

Art. 41. [As amended by the law of June 5, 1852.] 

Art. 3. The provisions of Art. 2 do not apply to crown fiefs 
or to fiefs situated in other countries. 

Art. 42. [As amended April 14, 1856.] 

In accordance with special laws already passed the following 
are abolished without compensation : 

1. The right to exercise or delegate judicial power, connected 
with the possession of certain lands, together with the fees and 
exemptions accruing from this right. 

2. The obligations arising from manorial or patriarchial juris- 
diction, from serfage, and from former tax and industrial organ- 
ization. {Steuer- und Gewerbe-Verfassnng.) 

With these rights are also abolished the counter-services and 
burdens devolving upon those enjoying these rights. 



Constitutional Government 345 

Title III. 

THE KING. 

Art. 43. The person of the king shall be inviolable. 

Art. 44. The king's ministers shall be responsible. All of- 
ticial acts of the king shall require for their validity the counter- 
signature of a minister, who shall thereby assume responsibility 
for them. 

Art. 45. The executive power shall belong to the king alone. 
He shall appoint and dismiss the ministers. He shall order the 
promulgation of the laws and issue the necessary ordinances for 
their execution. 

Art. 46. The king shall be commander-in-chief of the army. 

Art. 47. The king shall fill all posts in the army, as well as 
in other branches of the public service, in so far as it is not other- 
wise ordained by law. 

Art. 48. The king shall have power to declare war and make 
peace, and to conclude other treaties with foreign governments. 
The latter require for their validity the assent of the chambers in 
so far as they are commercial treaties, or impose burdens on the 
State, or obligations on the individual subjects. 

Art. 49. The king shall have power to pardon, and to mitigate 
punishment. 

But in favor of a minister condemned for his official acts, this 
right can only be exercised on the motion of that chamber whence 
his impeachment emanated. 

Only in virtue of a special law can the king suppress inquiries 
already instituted. 

Art. 50. The king may confer orders and other distinctions, 
so far as they do not carry privileges with them. 

He shall exercise the right of coinage in accordance with the 
law. 

Art. 51. The king shall convoke the chambers, and close their 
sessions. He may dissolve the two chambers together or either 
one. In such a case, however, the electors shall be assembled 
within a period of sixty days, and the chambers summoned 
within a period of ninety days respectively after the dissolution. 

Art. 52. The king shall have power to adjourn the chambers. 
But without their assent this adjournment may not exceed the 
space of thirty days, nor be repeated during the same session. 

Art. 53. The crown is, in accordance with the laws of the 
royal family, hereditary in the male line of that house following 
the law of primogeniture and agnatic succession. 

Art. 54. The king shall attain his majority on completing his 
eighteenth year. 



346 Constitutional Government 



In presence of the united chambers he shall take the oath to 
observe the constitution of the monarchy steadfastly and in- 
violably^ and to rule in accordance with it and the laws. 

Art. 55. Without the consent of both chambers the king can- 
not also be ruler of foreign realms. 

Art. 56. If the king is a minor, or is otherwise permanently 
prevented from ruling himself, the regency shall be undertaken 
by that agnate (Art. 53), who has attained his majority and 
stands next in succession to the crown. He shall immediately 
convoke the chambers, which, in united session, shall decide as 
to the necessity of the regency. 

Art. 57. If there be no agnate of age, and if no legal pro- 
vision has previously been made for such a contingency, the 
Ministry of State shall convoke the chambers, which shall then 
elect a regent in joint session. And until the assumption of the 
regency by him, the Ministry of State shall conduct the govern- 
ment. 

Art. 58. The regent shall exercise the powers vested in the 
king in the name of the latter. After the establishment of the 
regency, he shall take the oath before the chambers in joint ses- 
sion to observe the constitution of the monarchy steadfastly and 
inviolably, and to rule in accordance with it and the laws. 

Until this oath is taken, the whole Ministry of State for the 
time being shall remain responsible for all acts of the govern- 
ment. 

Art. 59. The annuity drawn from the income of the forests 
and domains and set apart by the law of January 17, 1820, shall 
remain attached to the entailed fund of the crown. 



Title IV. 

THE MINISTERS. 

Art. 60. The ministers, as well as the State officials appointed 
to represent them, shall have access to each chamber, and must 
at all times be heard upon their own request. 

Each chamber can demand the presence of the ministers. 

The ministers shall be entitled to vote in one or other of the 
chambers only when members of it. 

Art. 61. On the resolution of one chamber the ministers may 
be impeached for the crime of violating the constitution, for 
bribery and for treason. The decision of such cases shall lie 
with the supreme tribunal of the monarchy sitting as one body. 
As long as two Supreme Courts exist, they shall be united for 
the above purpose. 



Constitutional Government 347 



Further details as to matters of responsibility, procedure and 
punishment, are hereby reserved for a special law. 

Title V. 

THE CHAMBERS. 

Art. 62. The legislative power shall be exercised in common 
by the king and the two chambers. 

Every law shall require the assent of the king and of the two 
chambers. 

Money bills and the budgets shall first be laid before the sec- 
ond chamber ; the budgets shall either be accepted or rejected as 
a whole by the first chamber. 

Art. 63. In the event only of its being urgently necessary to 
maintain public security, or deal with an unusual state of distress 
when the chambers are not in session, ordinances, which do not 
contravene the constitution, may be issued with the force of the 
law, on the responsibility of the whole ministry. But these must 
be immediately laid before the chambers for approval at their 
next meeting. ' 

Art. 64. The king, as well as each chamber, shall have the 
right of proposing laws. Bills that have been rejected by one of 
the chambers, or by the king, cannot be re-introduced during the 
same session. 

Arts. 65-69. [As amended May 7, 1853.] The first chamber 
shall be formed by royal ordinance (Anordnung) which can only 
be altered by a law to be issued with the approval of the 
chambers. 

The first chamber shall be composed of members appointed 
by the king, with the right of hereditary transmission, or only 
for Hfe. 

Art. 69. [As amended April 30, 1851; May 17, 1867, and 
June 23, 1876.] The second chamber shall consist of four hun- 
dred and thirty-three members. 

The electoral districts shall be determined by law. They shall 
consist of one or more circles (Kreisen), or of one or more of 
the larger towns. 

Art. 70. Every Prussian who has completed his twenty-fifth 
year, and is qualified to take part in the elections of the commune 
where he is domiciled, is entitled to act as a primary voter 
(Urzvdhler). 

One entitled to take part in the election of different communes, 
can only exercise his right as primary voter in one commune. 

Art. 71. For every 250 souls of the population, one elector 



348 Constitutional Government 



(Wahlmann) shall be chosen. The primary voters shall be 
divided into three classes in proportion to the amount of direct 
taxes they pay, and in such a manner as that each class shall 
represent a third of the sum total of the taxes paid by the primary 
voters. 

This sum total shall be reckoned : 

(a) By communes, in case the commune forms of itself a 
primary electoral district. 

(b) By districts {Bezirke), in case the primary electoral dis- 
trict consists of several communes. 

The first class shall consist of those primary voters, highest in 
the scale of taxation, who, taken together, pay a third of the 
total. 

The second class shall consist of those primary voters, next 
highest in the scale, whose taxes form a second third of the whole. 

The third class shall be made up of the remaining taxpayers 
(lowest in the scale) who contribute the other third of the whole. 

Each class shall vote apart, and shall choose each a third of 
the electors. 

These classes may be divided into several voting sections, none 
of which, however, must include more than 500 primary voters. 

The electors shall be chosen by each class from the number 
of the primary voters in their district, without regard to the 
classes. 

Art. 72. The deputies shall be chosen by the electors. 

Further details relating to the elections shall be determined by 
an electoral law, which shall also make the necessary provision 
for those cities where flour and meat duties are levied instead 
of direct taxes. 

Art. 73. [As amended May 22, 1888.] The legislative period 
of the second chamber shall be five years. 

Art. 74. [As amended March 27, 1872.] Every Prussian is 
eligible as deputy to the second chamber who has completed his 
thirtieth year, who has not forfeited his civil rights in consequence 
of a valid judicial sentence, and who has been a Prussian subject 
for three years. 

The president and members of the supreme chamber of ac- 
counts cannot sit in either house of the diet {Landtag). 

Art. 75. After the lapse of a legislative period the chambers 
shall be elected anew, and the same in the event of dissolution. 
In both cases previous members are re-eligible. 

Art. 76. [As amended May 18, 1857.] Both houses of the 
diet of the kingdom shall be regularly convened by the king in 
the period from the beginning of November in each year till the 
middle of the following January, and otherwise as often as cir- 
cumstances may require. 



Constitutional Governrnent 349 



Art. 77 . The chambers shall be opened and closed by the king 
in person, or by a minister appointed by him for this purpose in 
a joint session of the chambers. 

Both chambers shall be simultaneously convened, opened, ad- 
journed and closed. If one chamber shall be dissolved, the other 
shall be at the same time prorogued. 

Art. 78. Each chamber shall examine the credentials of its 
members and decide thereupon. It shall regulate its own order 
of business and discipline by its rule of order, and elect its pres- 
ident, vice-presidents and secretaries. 

Members of the public service shall require no special permit 
(Uriaub) in order to enter the chamber. 

If a member of the chamber shall accept a salaried office of 
the State, or is promoted in the service of the State to a post 
involving higher rank or increase of salary, he shall lose his seat 
and vote in the chamber, and can only recover his seat in it by 
re-election. 

No one can be a member of both chambers. 

Art. 79. The sittings of both chambers shall be public. On 
the motion of its president, or of ten members, each chamber 
may meet in private session at which the first motion taken up 
shall be the question of continuing the secrecy of the session. 

Art. 80. [As amended May 30, 1855.] The chamber of 
deputies cannot take action unless there is a majority of the legal 
number of its members present. Each chamber shall take action 
by absolute majority of votes, subject to any exceptions that may 
be determined by the rules of order for elections. 

The house of lords shall not taken action unless at least sixty 
members of the house holding seats and voting in accordance 
with the provisions of the ordinance of October 12, 1854, shall 
be present. 

Art. 81. Each chamber shall have the separate right of 
presenting addresses to the king. 

No one may in person present to the chambers, or to one of 
them a petition or address. 

Each chamber can transmit to the ministers the communica- 
tions made to it, and demand information of them in regard to 
any grievances thus presented. 

Art. 82. Each chamber shall be entitled to appoint for its 
own information commissions of inquiry into facts. 

Art. 83. The members of both chambers are representatives 
of the whole people. They shall vote according to their own con- 
victions, and shall not be bound by commissions or instructions. 

Art. 84. For their votes in the chamber they can never be 
called to account, and for the opinion they express therein they 



350 Constitutional Government 



can only be called to account within the chamber itself, in virtue 
of the rules of order. 

No member of either chamber can, without its assent, be had 
up for examination, or be arrested during the parliamentary ses- 
sion for any penal offense, unless he be taken in the act, or in 
the course of the following day. 

Assent shall alike be necessary in the case of arrest for debt. 

All criminal proceedings against a member of the chamber, 
and all arrests for preliminary examination or civil arrest, shall 
be suspended during the parliamentary session on demand from 
the chamber concerned. 

Art. 85. The members of the second chamber shall receive 
out of the State treasury traveling expenses and a salary to be 
fixed by law. Renunciation thereof shall be inadmissible. 

TlTLS VI. 
the; judicial power. 

Art. 86. The judicial power shall be exercised in the name 
of the king, by independent tribunals subject to no other au- 
thority than that of the law. 

Judgments shall be issued and executed in the name of the 
king. 

Art. 87. The judges shall be appointed for life by the king, 
or in his name. 

They can only be removed or temporarily suspended from 
office by judicial sentence, and for reasons previously prescribed 
by law. Temporary suspension from office, so far as it does not 
occur in consequence of a law, and involuntary transfer from 
one position to another, or to the superannuated list, can occur 
only from the causes and in accordance with the forms prescribed 
by law, and only in virtue of a judicial sentence. 

But these provisions do not apply to cases of transfer rendered 
necessary by changes in the organization of the courts or of their 
districts. 

Art. 87 [added February 19, 1879.] In the formation of 
courts common to the territory oi Prussia and to that of other 
Federal States, deviations from the provisions of Article 86, and 
of the first clause of Article 87, are permissible. 

Art. 88. [Abrogated April 30, 1856.] 

Art. 89. The organization of the tribunals shall be determined 
by law. 

Art. 90. To the judicial office only those shall be appointed 
who have qualified themselves for it as prescribed by law. 



Constitutional Government 351 



Art. 91. Courts for special classes of cases, and, in particular, 
tribunals for trade and industry, shall be establislied by statute 
in those places where local needs may require them. 

The organization and jurisdiction of such courts, as well as 
their procedure and the appointment of their members, the special 
status of the latter, and the duration of their office, shall be de- 
termined by law. 

Art. 92. In Prussia there shall be only one supreme tribunal. 

Art. 93. The proceedings of the civil and criminal courts shall 
be public, but the public may be excluded by a publicly announced 
resolution of the court, when order or good morals may seem 
endangered (by their admittance). 

In other cases publicity of proceedings can only be limited by 
law. 

Art. 94. [As amended May 21, 1852.] In criminal cases the 
guilt of the accused shall be determined by jurymen, in so far as 
exceptions are not introduced by a law issued with the previous 
assent of the chambers. The formation of the jury-court shall 
be regulated by a law. 

Art. 95. [As amended May 21, 1852.] By a law issued with 
the previous assent of the chambers, there may be established a 
special court, the jurisdiction whereof shall include the crimes 
of high treason, as well as those crimes against the internal and 
external security of the State, which may be assigned to it by 
law. 

Art. 96. The jurisdiction of the courts and of the adminis- 
trative authorities shall be determined by law. Conflicts of au- 
thority between the courts and the administrative authorities shall 
be settled by a tribunal indicated by law. 

Art. 97. A law shall determine the conditions on which public 
officials, civil and military, may be prosecuted, for wrongs com- 
mitted by them in exceeding their functions. But the previous 
assent of superior officials shall not be required as a condition of 
bringing suit. 

Title VII. 

PUBLIC OFFICIALS NOT BELONGING TO THE JUDICIAL CLASS. 

Art. 98. The special legal status (Rechtsverhditnisse) of 
public officials, including advocates and solicitors {Staatsanzvdlte) 
not belonging to the judicial class shall be determined by a law 
which, without unduly restricting the government in the choice 
of its executive agents, shall secure to civil servants proper pro- 
tection against arbitrary dismissal from their posts or deprivation 
of their pay. 



352 Constitutional Government 



Title VIII. 

THE FINANCES. 

Art. 99. All income and expenditures of the State shall be 
estimated in advance for every year, and be incorporated in the 
budget. 

The latter shall be annually fixed by a law. 

Art. 100. Taxes and contributions to the public treasury shall 
be collected only in so far as they shall have been included in the 
budget, or authorized by special laws. 

Art. loi. In the matter of taxes there shall be no privileges. 

Existing tax-laws shall be subjected to a revision, and all such 
privileges abolished. 

Art. 102. State and communal officers can levy fees only 
when authorized by law. 

Art. 103. The contracting of loans for the State treasury can 
only be effected in virtue of a law ; and the same holds good of 
guarantees involving a burden to the State. 

Art. 104. Any violation of the provisions of the budget shall 
require subsequent approval by the chambers. 

The accounts relating to the budget shall be examined and 
audited by the supreme chamber of accounts. The general budget 
accounts of every year, including the tabular view of the national 
debt shall, with the comments of the supreme chamber of ac- 
counts, be laid before the chambers for the purpose of discharg- 
ing the government of responsibility. 

A special law shall regulate the establishment and functions 
of the supreme chamber of accounts. 



Title IX. 

THE COMMUNES, CIRCUITS, DISTRICTS, AND PROVINCIAL BODIES. 

Art. 105. [As amended May 24, 1853.] The representation 
and administration of the communes, circuits and provinces of the 
Prussian State, shall be determined by special laws. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Art. 106. Laws and ordinances shall be binding when pub- 
lished in the form prescribed by law. 

The examination of the validity of properly promulgated royal 
ordinances shall not be within the competence of the government 
authorities (Belwrde) but of the chambers solely. 

Art. 107. The constitution may be amended by the ordinary 



Constitutional Government 353 



method of legislation, and such amendment shall merely require 
the usual absolute majority in each chamber on two divisions, 
between which there must elapse a period of at least twenty-one 
days. 

Art. io8. The members of both chambers, and State officials, 
shall take the oath of fealty and obedience to the king, and shall 
swear conscientiously to observe the constitution. 

The army shall not take the oath to observe the constitution. 

Art. 109. _ Existing taxes and dues shall continue to be raised ; 
and all provisions of existing statute-books, single laws and or- 
dinances, wdiich do not contravene the present constitution, shall 
remain in force until altered by law. 

Art. no. All administrative authorities holding appointments 
in virtue of existing laws shall continue their activity until the 
issue of organic laws atTecting them. 

Art. III. In the event of war or revolution, and pressing 
danger to public security therefrom ensuing. Articles 5, 6, 7, 27, 
28, 29, 30 and 36 of the constitution may be suspended for a cer- 
tain time and in certain districts. The details shall be determined 
by law. 

TEMPORARY PROVISIONS. 

Art. 112. Until the issue of the law contemplated in Article 
26, educational matters shall be governed by the laws at present 
in force. 

Art. 113. Prior to the revision of the criminal law, a special 
law will deal with ofifences committed by word, writing, print or 
pictorial representation. 

Art. 114. [Repealed April 14, 1856.] 

Art. 115. Until the issue of the electoral law contemplated 
in Article 72. the ordinance of the thirtieth of May, 1849, touch- 
ing the election of deputies to the second chamber, shall remain 
in force. 

Art. 116. The two supreme tribunals now existing shall be 
combined into one. The organization shall be prescribed by a 
special law. 

Art. 117. The claims of State officials who received a per- 
manent appointment before the promulgation of the constitution 
shall receive special consideration in the new laws regulating the 
civil service. 

Art. 118. Should changes in the present constitution be ren- 
dered necessary by the German Federal constitution to be drawn 
up on the basis of the draft of twenty-sixth of May, 1849, such 
alterations shall be decreed by the king; and the ordinances to 
this effect laid before the chambers, at their first meeting. 



354 Constitutional Government 



The chambers shall then decide whether the changes thus pro- 
visionally made harmonize with the Federal constitution of Ger- 
many. 

Art. 119. The royal oath mentioned in Article 54, as well as 
the oath prescribed to be taken by both chambers and all State 
officials, shall be taken immediately after the legislative revision 
of the present constitution (Articles 62 and 108) shall have been 
completed. 

In witness zvhereof we have hereunto set our signature and 
royal seal. Given at Charlottenburg, the thirty-first of January, 
1850. 

[l.s.] Friedrich Wilhe;lm. 

Graf V. Brandenburg, v. Landenberg, v. Manteuffel, 
V. Strotha, v. d. Heydt, v. Rabe, Simons, v. Schleinitz. 



REGENCY OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA, 

1858. 

In the summer of 1858, I went to Germany and visited my 
uncle, Konigliche Geheime Medicinal- und Regierungs-Rath Dr. 
August Leopold Ulrich, who resided in Coblentz. His title in- 
dicates that was a secret counselor of the king. This happened 
to be the psychological period in Prussian history, when the first 
step occurred which culminated in the final elevation of William 
the First to the position of Emperor of the great German Empire. 
My uncle's residence was on the principal street running to the 
Schloss (castle) where the Regent, then Prince William, lived 
when in Coblentz, and my uncle often called upon His Highness 
on private business, I suppose, as he left me in the hall during 
one of these interviews, when I accompanied him to the Schloss, 

By royal decree of October 23d, 1857, as stated by Bismarck 
in his memoirs, "Prince William of Prussia was charged to act 
for King William Frederic IV, for the next three months, and 
this was renewed three times for three months each, but not 
being again extended, it lapsed in October, 1858." In the sum- 
mer of 1858 a strong effort was made to induce the Queen to 
obtain the King's signature to a letter to his brother, saying, that 
he felt himself sufficiently recovered to undertake the govern- 
ment, and he thanked the Prince for having represented him. 
The government would then, under control of the royal signature, 
be carried on through Her Majesty the Queen, by those gentle- 
men of the court, who might be called upon, or might offer to 
undertake it. Bismarck objected to this, and notified Prince 
William, who said, "Then I take my departure." Bismarck how- 



Constitutional Government 355 



ever objected and summoned the minister Manteuffel, who as- 
sisted him and wrote finally from Berlin, October 12, 1858, 
stating that : "From all these considerations the King gives orders 
to the next heir to the throne, to do what is laid down in the 
Constitution of the country, to meet such a case. The directions 
of the Constitution, which, precisely on this point, had been 
drawn up in the interests of the monarchy, will then be brought 
into operation, and the vote of the Diet, which, though superfluous 
after the King's declaration, is nevertheless a good ground pre- 
scribed in the Constitution, will be obtained. 

Prince William of Prussia undertook the Regency October 26, 
1858. Manteuffel was dismissed November 6 and Prince von 
Hohenzollern succeeded him. 

In 1862 William, who had become king through the death of 
his brother in 1861, appointed Bismarck President of the Council, 
who had stood by Prince William, when first initiated into public 
affairs, and was destined to create for his august master a great 
empire and a world power. It was his plan to eliminate Austria 
and establish a federal union with Prussia as a central head, 
instead of Austria. Napoleon III interfered with this plan, and 
he was limited to the states north of the River Main. Prussia 
annexed Hanover, Hesse, Nassau and Frankfort, besides Schles- 
wig-Holstein, and these with the other states, north of the river 
Main, comprised the North German Confederation of which the 
Prussian king was chosen to be President. 

The Franco-Prussian War. 

The Ems Telegraph states : "On July 2, 1870, the Spanish 
ministry decided in favor of the accession to that throne of 
Leopold, hereditary prince of Hohenzollern." This gave the first 
stimulus in the field of international law, to the subsequent 
military question, but still only in the form of a specifically 
Spanish matter. It was hard to find in the law of nations, a pre- 
text for France to interfere with the freedom of Spain to choose 
a king. After the people of Paris had made up their minds to 
war with Prussia, this was sought for, artificially, in the name 
of Hohenzollern, which, in itself, had nothing more menacing to 
France than any other German name. 

Bismarck states that: "The first demands of France respect- 
ing the candidature for the Spanish throne, and which were un- 
justifiable, had been presented on July 4th and answered by our 
foreign office evasively, though in accordance with the truth, that 
the ministry knew nothing about the matter, as His Alajesty the 
King had treated it as a purely family matter. In France, how- 
ever, a casus belli was being sought against Pi-U5sia. 



356 Constitutional Government 



July 6, Gramont declared in the Corps Legislatif that: "We do 
not believe that respect for the rights of the neighboring people, 
binds us to suffer a foreign power to set one of its princes on 
the throne of Charles V. . . . This event will not come to 
pass, of that we are quite certain. . . . Should it prove 
otherwise, we shall know how to fulfil our duty without shrink- 
ing, and without weakness." 

This utterance, Bismarck says, was itself an official interna- 
tional threat with the hand on the sword hilt. 

The interview of Benedetti with the king at Ems is well known. 
An attitude taken by Bismarck, von Moltke, and Roon, as well 
as the entire German nation, which finally culminated in war. 

"His Majesty the King, thereupon, decided not to receive the 
French Ambassador again, and sent to tell him through the aide- 
de-camp on duty, that his Majesty had nothing further to com- 
municate to the ambassadors." 

This war was practically precipitated by Emperor Napoleon III 
and ended by surrender to Germany and the overthrow of 
Napoleon. (See reference to Ems dispatch in Bismarck's Me- 
moirs.) 

Private Letter from Prussia. 
The following is an extract from a letter received by Bartow 
A. Ulrich, of this city, from his cousin at Berlin, the wife of 
General Von Stosch, of the Prussian army. It was written at 
the time the news of Napoleon's surrender reached Berlin : 

Berlin, September 3, 1870. 
Respected Cousin: 

I thank you as a cousin and patriot for your kind letter. King 
William telegraphed today that Napoleon had surrendered to 
him in person. This was, brought on by his arrogance, is, there- 
fore, virtually at an end, for as McMahon has capitulated and 
surrendered his army as prisoners of war, Marshal Bazaine, who 
is now in Metz, must do the same, as he cannot expect other help, 
and Paris will be unable to struggle alone. 

Napoleon, as I understand, has preferred to surrender himself 
as a prisoner of war to our chivalrous King William and preserve 
his life, and, if possible, the Napoleonic dynasty, rather than re- 
main in his own land. It is really a terrible humiliation for the 
haughty French nation to see itself so completely conquered by 
despised Germany — to have won scarcely a single battle, and to 
have shown her own pitiful condition to the eyes of the world. 
Our forefathers — if they are permitted to retain an interest in 
the other world in the aflfairs of this — would be pleased if they 



Constitutional Government 357 



could see that the descendants of the French were compelled to 
pay the debt that France owes to the "Fatherland" for the humili- 
ation and trouble brought upon it in the past. 

My father's (your uncle Ulrich) greatest wish was to see 
Strasbourg a German city again. His children have done their 
utmost to bring about the accomplishment of this desire. My 
husband, son and brother, and a large portion of the younger 
relatives of my mother, are in the field. The youngest brother 
of my husband, at the head of his regiment, was severely 
wounded, and has now died of his wounds. A nephew of mine, 
and a younger cousin of his, have also fallen in battle. So our 
family, like many others, has given some of the dearest to save 
the "Fatherland."' to punish our hereditary foe, and to secure 
ourselves from him in the future. 

It is a pleasing sign of the times that all the Germans every- 
where, if ever so far from their old home and ever so long, ab- 
sent, extend the warmest sympathy and a helping hand to us. 
Germany, united as it is now, has never shown so strong a de- 
termination to punish foreign overbearance. Our best and dear- 
est have willingly sacrificed their lives and shed their blood. 
Many severe losses have been sustained by the highest and 
wealthiest of our families, as well as the lowest and poorest ; still, 
no one wishes to stay at home as long as the decimated ranks 
require to be refilled. 

It is to be hoped that the event of the 2d of September will stop 
further bloodshed, and that diplomatic negotiations will result in 
such a manner that our efiforts and losses will not have been in 
vain — such as all Germany desires, and as King William and 
Bismarck will endeavor to accomplish. 

Meeting of Bismarck and Favre. 

signing preliminary articles of peace at versailles. 

In January, 1871, the Prussians had besieged Paris. January 
5th, the French forces under Gambetta were badly defeated and 
all hope was lost. Two days later, Jules Favre saw Bismarck, 
the iron chancellor, at Versailles, and sued for peace. Forty 
thousand Parisians had already succumbed to the siege and there 
were only two weeks' provisions within the city walls. The 
treaty was subsequently signed at Frankfort, May loth. France 
was compelled to cede Alsace, Lorraine, Metz and Strassburg, 
and to pay in indemnity of 1,000,000,000 thalers, a sum which 
was said never could be paid, but which was settled long before 
the time it was due. 



358 Constitutional Governynent 



The following is a translation of a letter written by Admiral 
Von Stosch to his wife, Rosa Von Stosch, born Ulrich, giving 
an account of the meeting of Bismarck, Thiers and Favre. The 
letter is taken from the life of Admiral and General Von Stosch, 
published by his son, Ulrich Von Stosch : 

Versailles 26, 2, 1871. 

"The preliminary articles of peace were signed today at a late 
hour. Yesterday I had the opportunity, which was of great in- 
terest, of being present at the discussion between Bismarck and 
Thiers and Favre ; he was alone, and wanted me present, so as to 
have someone posted in military questions, to refer to. He had 
investigated the matter thoroughly. At the beginning he went 
out ; Thiers then opened a window. Just to say something, I re- 
marked, 'It is very warm.' Thiers said, 'especially, when one is 
treated as we are.' The two Frenchmen became very excited, 
and made long speeches over each remark and proposition. 
Finally Bismarck said, 'This will not do ; at this rate we will never 
get ahead. I must ask you to answer in definite counter propo- 
sitions.' 

"Thiers : 'But they must be proven.' 

"Bismarck: 'No, you must entrust that to me, so that I may 
understand the facts myself. At all events I must beg you to 
have more control over your language, and keep your offensive 
remarks within bounds. You are supreme in France and your 
power now is unlimited. I, on the contrary, am bound by my 
instructions, and it becomes you to be milder. I am bound to 
follow the demands of my superiors. You know that we must 
begin to shoot Monday if we have not finished then. You must 
thoroughly understand this. Today we are discussing the ques- 
tion, and have spent seven hours already, which does not agree 
with my health.' 

"The Frenchmen were very much chagrined at this 'philippic' 
and Thiers cried time and again, 'Fie, my Count !' 'Fie, my 
Count !' Finally they said they could go no farther and rode 
home. Today they are again here and have, as I am informed, 
concluded to sign the Preliminary Articles of Peace. 

"The poor men cannot arrive at any conclusion, as Bismarck 
is continually putting more stipulations in the preliminary treaty. 
He wants to be entirely free from the Frenchmen before others 
have an opportunity to interfere, and he will succeed. These 
long discussions require an enormous amount of strength, and 
he will make himself ill; it is certain, however, that he will suc- 
ceed in the end. I hope to be through with my duties at the head- 
quarters of the king, and return home with him in the beginning 



Constitutional Government 359 



of March. How will the work of the ministry suit? Today the 
waters are playing in honor of the King of Wurtemberg." 

Th^ Gkrman Empire. 

1870. 

The German Empire of today might truly be called the United 
States of Germany. The security of the dififerent states and 
cities of Germany depends upon their union under one govern- 
ment, and for this reason a Confederation was formed and the 
King of Prussia, the strongest state in Germany, created president 
with the title of "German Emperor," after the Franco-Prussian 
War. Through the wise administration of William I., aided by 
the great chancellor, Bismarck, and von Moltke, and other great 
generals, — and later through the efforts of William II., united 
Germany has become one of the foremost nations of the world. 

It is stated by Burt Estes Howard, Ph.D., in his book entitled, 
"The German Empire," that : "The study of the German Empire, 
from a juristic standpoint, begins with the founding of the North 
German Bund. If, with the formal dissolution of the Holy 
Roman Empire in 1806, one period of the constitutional history 
of Germany ended, the disruption of the German Confederation, 
in 1866, brought another period of that history to a no less definite 
termination. The break between the North German Bund and 
the German Confederation legally is no less sharp than that be- 
tween the German Confederation and the old Empire." 

"The legal continuity between the North German Bund and 
the present Empire, however, is complete. The modern German 
state is not something dififerent juristically from the North Ger- 
man Bund. It is rather an expansion of it. The imperial con- 
stitution is the federal constitution revised." 

"The founding of the North German Bund, and of the German 
Empire, appears not as an act of the German people, but as an 
act of the German States, existent in 1867 and 1870. All the 
acts leading up to the erection of the Federal States were acts 
of the States as personalities. In entering the Bund they gave up 
their sovereignty, it is true, but not their existence as States. 
This legal individuality continued and became the foundation of 
the joint personality of the Federal State." 

"The sovereign power lies with the Empire and comes to ex- 
pression, not in the Kaiser, who is in no sense the "monarch" of 
Germany, but in the 'totality of the allied governments' regarded 
as a single personality — in other words, in the Bundesrat." 

"In the German Empire we have a strongly unitarian power 
to legislate, formed by a strongly federal power to execute." 

In Volume I of A. Lawrence Lowell's book entitled, "Govern- 



360 Constitutional Government 



ment and Parties in Continental Europe," he says, after stating 
the privileges of the different states, that: "It is evident that the 
German Empire is very far from being a federal union of the 
kind with which we are familiar. It is rather a continuation of 
the old Germanic Confederation with the center of gravity shifted 
from the states to the central government, and the preponderating 
power placed in the hands of Prussia — the other large states re- 
taining privileges roughly in proportion to their size." In a note 
he adds, "I do not mean to touch the philosophical question 
whether the sovereignty has or has not been transferred to the 
Empire." (Page 251, Vol. i.) 

The present United States of Germany, after the Franco- 
Prussian War, declared its present Constitution, as revised, on 
the i8th of January 1871, including in the Empire, the South 
German States, which were not a part of the North German 
Bund, making in all twenty-five States, twenty-two of which are 
monarchical in their organization, Vk^hile three are republican City- 
States. King William I., King of Prussia, was chosen president, 
with the title of "The German Emperor." 

On the i6th of April 1871, William I. issued a proclamation 
by and with the consent of the Council of the German Confedera- 
tion and Imperial Diet, decreeing the adoption of a Constitution 
for the Empire. Under the Constitution all the sovereign and 
independent states were united, each state retaining its own legis- 
lature and the control of its local affairs. 

"An eternal union was formed," it declares, "for the protec- 
tion of the realm and the care and welfare of the German people." 

The United States is a republic and Germany a monarchy. 
These systems of Government are antagonistic. The German 
rulers do not believe in a republican system of Government, and 
all provinces conquered by Germany would be put under control 
of a strong military imperial Government. Russia, Germany and 
Austria at one time entered into an alliance called the Holy 
alliance, the object of which was to stop the progress of Repub- 
licanism in Europe and America. This was one of the reasons 
that the Monroe Doctrine was made an American principle, as 
heretofore fully explained, laying down the rule that no foreign 
imperial government should get a foothold on American soil in 
the future. It is necessary for a strong monarchical government 
like Russia, Austria-Hungary, or Prussia to maintain a large 
military force in order to govern successfully their own nation, 
and other provinces subjugated by them. I consider this whole 
system as archaic in a civilized age, and I object, and always have 
done so, since a young man educated in American institutions, 
(and a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln) to this system of 
government, or its extension in the world. According to my 



Constitutional Government 361 



views of government and my understanding of the high culture 
of the German nation today, I would consider it a blessing to the 
country of my forefathers, if it was entirely free from the con- 
trol of a monarchical government liice that of Prussia, which 
practically rules the German Empire. 

The present king of Prussia, wlio is also the German Emperor, 
inherited his title and power, and holds his position through no 
effort or merit of his own. He is surely a man of great ability 
and is undoubtedly carrying out the views inculcated by the 
Hohenzollern family. 

The fault of this system does not lie with the individual, but 
is inherent in itself. A capable king may be followed by one who 
is entirely incompetent, or the power given him falsely used. 

The ten million so-called German-Americans living in the 
United States, or their descendants have enjoyed life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness without the overlordship of the 
Hohenzollern family, they have taken an active part in the affairs 
of government and have fought here during the civil war to 
maintain the constitution. This demonstrates what they could do 
in Germany, if the Government was under control of the people, 
and the President, and members of both houses, were elected by 
them under a liberal republican constitution. 

The average American President from Washington to Wilson 
is way above the average European king, or emperor, as history 
will prove, and these men were elected by the people, and do not 
claim to get their power through "Divine rights." 

What I say of Germany, might also of course apply to other 
European monarchies, and they would not feel the loss of the 
so-called "divinely appointed" rulers, more than France has, the 
loss of the Bourbon family. The world has been ruled long 
enough in this way. 

In a letter written to Bismarck from Babelsberg dated Novem- 
ber 7th, 1863, King William I. of Prussia states his views as 
to the king's position in Prussia under the provisions of the Con- 
stitution of that state. "By the customary law of Prussia, which 
has not been materially altered by the Constitution, the king 
rules, not his ministers. It is only legislative, not governmental, 
functions that are shared with the chambers, before which the 
king is represented by the ministers. It is thus still the law, just 
as before the constitution, that the ministers are his majesty's 
servants, and his chosen advisors, but not the rulers of the Prus- 
sian state. Even, therefore, by the Constitution, the Prussian 
monarchy is not yet on a par with that of Belgium or England. 
Rather with us the king still rules personally and his authority 
is limited in its exercise only by some power, i. e., only within 
the legislative sphere." 



362 Constitutional Government 



This shows that Prussia is almost an absokite state as much as 
Russia. Under this form of government many superior minds 
in a nation are often put under subjection to one mind, the king, 
who holds his position for life. There may be times when he is 
inferior, incompetent, or corrupt, and he still holds control. 

The German Army. 

Article No. 53 of the Constitution of the German Empire states 
that: 

The Navy of the Empire is united under the supreme command 
of the Emperor. 

When the North German Confederation was formed in 1867, 
no state entering the Union save Prussia, possessed a navy. 
When she became a part of the new federal state, Prussia took 
her navy with her into the Bund, but the command of the navy 
remained still in the hands of the King of Prussia. 

Article No. 63 states that : 

The entire land forces of the Empire shall constitute a united 
army, which in war and peace be under the command of the 
Emperor. 

When the different states entered the North German Con- 
federation, they brought with them their armed forces and con- 
tributed them as continguents to the fighting strength of the 
Union. 

The principle of unity in the military organization of the Em- 
pire is carried out in three ways : 

(i) by placing the supreme command both in peace and war 
in the hands of the Kaiser; 

(2) by introducing a uniform organization, equipment and a 
set of tactics in all the continguents ; 

(3) by meeting the expenses of the army out of the common 
treasury. 

The King of Prussia is the Emperor of Germany, Commander- 
in-chief of the Prussian Continguent, he is also Commander-in- 
chief of all the continguents by reason of the authority vested in 
him by the Imperial Constitution. 

(See work of Howard entitled "German Empire.") 

Monarchy Seeks to Overthrow Democracy. 

There are influences at work to retard the progress of consti- 
tutional government in Germany today as in 1848 and 1850. Dr. 
Buche of the University of BerUn states that: "People, press, 



Constitutional Government 363 



and parliamentarism, are the three evils in the German Empire 
which should be stamped out." Dr. Boethe will discover, how- 
ever, that governments go forward and not backward as civiliza- 
tion and enlightenment advance in the world. This impetus is 
irresistible and cannot be retarded by great armies or strong em- 
pires. Fortunately the German Emperor, William II., keeps 
abreast of the times and is more liberal personally than many of 
his subjects. 

Prof. Hans Delbrueck, historian of the University of Berlin, 
says : "That Bismarck intended to overthrow the constitution 
of the German Empire and abolish suffrage in the Reichstag elec- 
tions. The stand which the present Emperor took in favor of 
constitutional government in opposition to the views of Bismarck, 
was the reason of the retirement of the Iron Chancellor, so that 
Bismarck even with all his iron will had to give way to the 
progressive world movement. 

It also appears evident that the imperial title is purely an hon- 
orary one, and the financial support of the Kaiser is received by 
him as King of Prussia. It is claimed that it is constitutionally 
impossible to vote money from the imperial exchequer for the 
support on private use of the Emperor, or his family. This 
illustrates the limitations imposed in this Twentieth Century 
upon royalty by the people. 



The Famous Wedding of the Kaiser's Daughter. 

king george v. of engeand and nicholas ii. of russia met 
william ii., emperor of germany, in berlin. 

The dispute between the two princely families of Hohenzollern 
and Guelph was settled November i, 1913, upon the assumption 
of the government of the duchy of Brunswick by Prince Ernest 
August of Cumberland, when he promised unswerving loyalty 
to the German Empire, to the Emperor and federated rulers of 
Germany. This was virtually a renunciation of his claims to the 
Kingdom of Hanover, which his father refused to renounce and 
was forced to live in exile in Austria. 

Following Prince Albert, who was chosen Regent m 1884, 
Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg-Schwerin has reigned 
over the duchy of Brunswick, until the accession of Prmce 
Ernest. The wedding of Prince Ernest to the daughter of the 
Kaiser was consummated May 24, 1913. Warmly welcomed by 
the people the couple made their state entry mto the duchy 



364 Constitutional Government 



November 3, 1913. This marriage brought England and Ger- 
many into more friendly relations, upon this, the first visit, of 
King George to Germany, and the fact that it was devoted en- 
tirely to family affairs had its influence. 

At this period three sovereign rulers over the greatest posses- 
sions in the world and the largest number of people were met in 
Berlin, King George of England, Nicholas II. of Russia, and 
William of Germany. 

A Great Change Has Taken Place in Germany. 

As a native born American citizen of German parentage, whose 
father came to New York in 1818 from Saxony and whose grand- 
father was professor in the University of Jena from 1775 to 181 3, 
and whose mother's father, Justius Johann von Reisenkampf, 
was educated at Jena and later located in Reval, Russia, where 
he held the position of collector of the port for thirty years, I 
wish to call attention to the difference between the manner of 
conducting the war of 1870 and that of the present war, by the 
German army commanders. 

Bismarck, in his reminiscences, declared that 1,500 trucks were 
laden with provisions for the Parisians in order to assist them at 
once, if they surrendered, and thus 1,500 trucks were not available 
for the transportation of ammunition. "After my departure 
from France," he says, "in consequence of the change made at 
his majesty's instance by Gen. von Stosch at Ferieres, in our 
treaty concerning the maintenance of the German troops, these 
provisions were assigned to them." (Gen. von Stosch was the 
husband of my cousin.) 

At the behest of Gen. Roon, Bismarck ordered the purchase 
of 4,000 horses and other requisitions in order to prepare for the 
bombardment of Paris. "Even this was temporarily delayed," 
says Bismarck, "through humanitarian sentiment. And the no- 
tion that Paris, although fortified and the strongest bulwark of 
our opponents, might not be attacked the same way as any other 
fortress, had been imported into our camp from England by the 
roundabout route of Berlin, together with the phrase about the 
'Mecca of civilization,' and other expressions of humanitarian 
feeling rife and effective in the camp of English public opinion. 
From London representations were received in our most influen- 
tial circles to the effect that the capitulation of Paris ought not 
to be brought about by bombardment, but only by hunger. 
Whether the latter method was the more humane is a doubtful 
point." 

Bismarck also states that "Queen Augusta was influencing her 
royal husband by letters in the interest of humanity." 



Constitutional Government 365 



The crown prince's wife, who was a daughter of the queen of 
England and the mother of the present kaiser; Mohke's wife, the 
wife of Count Bhimenthal, chief of staff, and the wife of Von 
Gottberg were all English women. These were all using their 
influence in behalf of humane treatment of the people besieged 
in Paris, and for the general cause of humanity. 

One does not read in history of poisonous gases being floated 
into Paris, or of Zeppelins dropping bombs on innocent noncom- 
batants. This is to the honor of Kaiser William I. and the crown 
prince, "Unser Fritz," beloved of all, who was the present kaiser's 
father. We do not read in history of submarines attacking and 
sinking great passenger steamships filled with neutrals. Of 
course, these were not invented, but other methods could have 
been used nearly as inhuman if the German commanders of that 
time had been anxious to perpetrate acts of this nature. 

I am loyal to the German people as a race, but not to the 
twenty-two monarchs, great and small, who with a select and lim- 
ited number of war lords dominate now the great mass of the 
people of the German empire. I am not in sympathy with the 
monarchical system prevailing in Germany, which is the antithesis 
of republicanism, and which confines all real power in the hands 
of an hereditary aristocracy. It is my belief that if Frederick, 
the father of the present kaiser, had been the ruler today this 
unprecedented war would not have occurred. 

In 1870 the Prussians were justified in besieging Paris and de- 
manding its capitulation. France virtually forced Prussia then 
into war. In 1914-1916, however, the circumstances appear to 
me to be different. The powerful German army, well equipped 
in every particular, after invading without the slightest provoca- 
tion a neutral country, Belgium, and devastating the cities, forced 
its way into France, expecting to capture the capital before it 
could prepare for defense. In this case it was France fighting 
for its fatherland, and not Germany. Belgium was not invaded 
in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Bismarck was too wise a 
chancellor to permit such an impolitic act, which would have 
brought down upon Germany the censure of neutral nations. 



An Unhyphenated Invocation. 

O, departed spirits of once honored and adored citizens of the 
land of my forefathers— the German fatherland— who enlight- 
ened the world through the brilliance and superiority of your 
intellects — the soul of real German culture ! Know you that the 
haughty, terrible and revengeful war-god Mars reigns in Germany 



366 Constitutional Government 



today, and has more influence and holds greater control over the 
present generation of the fatherland, the descendants of your 
once beloved fellow countrymen, than all your combined intel- 
lectual and gifted accomplishments? 

O, shade of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who created an 
immortal fabric of poetic beauty and sought to elevate mankind 
above the gross materiality of ancient barbarous instincts ! You 
depicted the devilish and deceptive Mephistopheles, whose influ- 
ence and counsels led only to sorrow and death. 

O, shade of Frederic von Schiller, the undaunted poet and 
novelist, the apostle of liberty and equality, the real man, un- 
moved by the assumed superiority of kings claiming a divine 
right to rule ! 

O, shade of Mendelssohn and Mozart, composers of the most 
sublime music of all the ages, who lived in an atmosphere of 
harmony, the antithesis of war and discord! 

O, shade of Alexander von Humboldt, who unfolded great 
scientific truths in the natural world, and in his Cosmos demon- 
strated the complete harmony and coordination of all created 
matter and the perfection of the laws of the universe ! 

O, shade of Immanuel Kant, the super-intellect, who in his 
Critique of Pure Reason analyzed the human mind and pointed 
out its defects, seeking to elevate the understanding by training 
it to grasp pure reason, which alone is infallible and does not 
depend on the testimony of the material senses ! 

O, shade of Martin Luther, who translated the Bible into Ger- 
man, and thus enlightened the German mind by the illuminating 
truths of the gospel of Jesus ! 

Return, O great spirits of the loved and beautiful fatherland, 
the glorious regions of the Rhine, the Moselle, the Neckar, the 
Elbe, the Danube, the home of the old and learned universities, 
of music and poetry, of dance and mirth, the instructors and be- 
loved friends of the student and artist! Calm with your benign 
influence the unchristian spirit of hate, of revenge, of war, of 
conquest ! 

Counteract the false Machiavelian philosophy of Heinrich von 
Treitschke and von Bernhardi. Show the present generation 
that intellectual achievements in science, philosophy, poetry, 
mechanical and commercial activities, will conquer the world and 
gain more admiration easier, more enduring and legitimate, than 
brute force, backed by destructive militarism — a thing unneces- 
sary except for the protection of the state ! 

Teach the present generation that it should endeavor, as in the 
past, to gain and distribute knowledge and elevate itself and the 
nation into the regions of pure thought and the brotherhood of 
all men! 



Constitutional Government 367 



What has brought about this change in Germany? Who has 
substituted miHtarism and the appalling manufacture of muni- 
tions of war for wholesale destruction, in place of art, poetry, 
music, and metaphysics ? Who has led Germany away from the 
intellectual atmosphere of the age of Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Les- 
sing, Humboldt, Mozart and Beethoven, back to the days of 
Alexander or Julius Caesar? 

It must be the work of a controlhng individual mind in power, 
secretly planning for world-wide conquests, who trained the 
present generation for this end. No European State has been 
interfered with on the high seas, any more than the United States, 
and the ships of Germany have had free entry into all the ports 
of the world, until the present war was precipitated. The ex- 
perience of Germany, France, Italy, England and the United 
States, as well as other Nations for the past half-century, has 
been that nations progress faster, and accomplish more in every 
line of legitimate enterprise during times of peace, than in a 
period of war. Maintaining an army for defensive purposes is 
always necessary, but this does not justify attacking in advance 
adjoining States without provocation. It is absurd to pretend 
that any nation can extend the higher culture by military force 
upon other countries. 

There exists in this world certain families accidentally elevated, 
materially above the great mass of the world's population, thru 
accumulated power obtained by force, whose chief object is to 
extend their sovereignty over additional territory. As long as 
these families remain in control, under a system of monarchical 
government, war will be forced upon different nations thru real 
or assumed justification to satisfy the ambition of ??? 

The United States of America has remained united and has 
progressed in commerce and education. It has become a world 
power, without the aid or control of any king, emperor, czar, or 
large standing army. The presidents of our republic, as a rule, 
have been equal, if not superior in ability to the so-called divinely 
appointed rulers of Europe, who believe themselves justified in 
dividing the earth between their respective families. 

My grandfather, Johann August Heinrich Ulrich, stated in his 
work on metaphysics, published in Jena, where he was a professor 
and contemporary with Goethe and Schiller as well as Kant, that 
"we must look at the world as the most perfect and best world 
here as a moral unit, as a system of means and ends, the work 
of an infinitely good, wise and powerful author; and before our 
eyes is the thought of a relative, highest perfection, where there- 
fore the best adapted means are prepared for the best and greatest 
purpose." That is our gospel. That is also the living gospel of 
the real Germany. 



368 Constitutional Government 



There is nothing in this philosophy that corresponds with the 
"iron fist" of Bismarck, or the "mihtary force" of Treitschke, 
but it is in harmony with the real culture of the days of Kant 
and Goethe. Von Bernhardi and his instructor, Von Treitschke, 
are compelled to go back one hundred years in order to discover 
in Germany example of real German culture. It is evident that 
this literary culture has not been conspicuous Vv^ithin the last 
forty years of Germany's military preparedness. Instead, many 
books, pamphlets and contributions to magazines emanating from 
German professors and authors, have been pronounced in their 
advocacy of militarism, conquests and the efficacy of brute force. 

It is imperialism and military force and perhaps efficiency, but 
not real culture as we understand, that would obtain in conquered 
provinces if the government of Germany were extended. It 
would be efficiency without liberty. I do not care to extend this 
system or encourage its extension directly or indirectly. As far 
as culture is concerned, America now has a large number of w^ell- 
organized universities containing five or six thousand students 
each and these universities are creating in America a class of 
highly cultured citizens which will be equal to the same class in 
Europe. 

Not German-Americans 

But 

American Citizens of German Parentage. 

"The destiny of the Germans and their descendants in our 
republic is a question that may well be considered by all Amer- 
ican citizens, but especially by the Germans themselves. For 
centuries past, Germany has been the great centre of learning 
and profound research in Europe, and has accomplished a great 
deal towards the development of liberal institutions, and per- 
sonal and national freedom. As Athens was to Greece, so Ger- 
many has been and is to Europe. In its universities have been 
educated some of the greatest historians, poets, theologists. 
geologists, statesmen, diplomats and princes known to the world. 
Should the genius of the Germans shine forth with its native 
brilliancy, altho transplanted on our American soil, and developed 
under the liberal institutions of a free government, why not 
expect in time results equal to those accomplished in their native 
land? With the superior advantages that may be derived in our 
country with unrestricted privileges, should they not surpass far 
the children of continental monarchies? Unless they abuse their 
newly acquired liberties, they undoubtedly will. Upon this pivot 



Constitutional Government 369 



hangs the destiny of the race, and the answer to the question as 
to their future glory and renown in our great repubhc. A quarter 
of a century hence the effects of past ages of oppression and 
monarchical rule upon the races who have emigrated to this 
country will be buried in oblivion. At the expiration of that 
time, if not sooner, rest assured the powerful and native genius 
of the Germans, where not destroyed by the results of dissipation, 
will spring forth in all its brilliancy and vigor, as a strong man 
arising from refreshing slumber, and carry this mighty republic 
upw^ard and onward to an enduring and glorious future, as yet 
uncontemplated by its statesmen and scholars. They will 
strengthen the barriers that must be established to check 
the power of an overbearing moneyed aristocracy. They will 
create equality and place superiority upon the ground of intellect 
only, and thereby break down the domineering rule of the rich 
though often ignorant leaders of our present social system. They 
will encourage a love and respect for music and the fine arts, 
consequently refining the national tastes, and stop the maddening 
desire for gain that is destroying the health, happiness and 
strength of our people, and corrupting every department of our 
government. 

"But to accomplish all this, the Germans and their descendants 
among us have a great duty to perform. They owe a duty to the 
past, to the present and to the future. The accumulated learning 
and wisdom of the past, the literature of Germany should be 
brought down to the present, promulgated in America, and trans- 
mitted through the rising generations to the future. In further- 
ance of this aim the German language is and should continue to 
be taught in all our city public schools. A great step forward 
must be taken as to what men drink, and herein let Germans show 
a progressive spirit, and break oilf old and debasing habits. 

"Carlisle introduced Goethe and Schiller by translating their 
works to the English, and no higher authority could be obtained 
than his as to their talents and literary achievements. There are 
many Germans of culture in America, and they do honor to 
themselves and their countrymen when they seek to revive the 
memory of such rare and gifted men as Schiller, Goethe, Kant, 
Luther or Mendelssohn on this side of the Atlantic. 

"The great power of the Germans should be directed aright 
politically, and their loyalty remain unquestioned. Their influ- 
ence and suffrage should not be lost to the welfare of the republic 
by being diverted into channels which will tend to strengthen 
those who are hostile to our interests as a nation." 

Should this be done here, and the intellectual glory of the land 
of their ancestors be perpetuated for generations through them, 
keeping them faithful to the preserving influence of correct and 



370 Constitutional Government 



moral principles, and free from superstition or bigotry, as well 
as loyal to a republican form of government, time will reveal in 
them the superiority of their race ; while the halls of our national 
and state legislatures, the bench of our chief justices, the chair 
of our presidents, as well as the pulpit and professor's chair will 
be often meritoriously filled by those in whose veins flows the 
blood of the Teutons. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 

Chaban 5, 1327 (July 24, 1908). 

(Translated from the French by Eugene C. LeBault.) 

Article i. The Ottoman Empire is composed of the lands, the 
possessions and the privileged provinces actually in existence. 

It forms an indivisible element, from which no part shall ever 
be detached for any reason whatsover. 

Art. 2. Constantinople is the capital of the Ottoman Empire. 

This city does not have, to the exception of other cities of the 
Empire, any special privileges nor immunities of its own. 

Art. 3. The Ottoman sovereignty, which is vested in the per- 
son of the Sovereign, the Caliph, supreme of Islam, belongs to 
the oldest prince of the dynasty of Osman, as per regulations 
established ab antiquo. On his advent to the throne, the Sov- 
ereign swears, in the general assembly, of if it is not in session, 
on its first meeting, to respect the dispositions of the Constitution 
and to be loyal to the country and the nation. 

Art. 4. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan is by title of supreme 
Caliph, the protector of the Mussulman religion. 

He is the Sovereign and the Pashah of all the Ottomans. 

Art. 5. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan is irresponsible; his 
person is sacred. 

Art. 6. The liberty of the members of the Ottoman imperial 
dynasty, their personal property, movable or immovable, and 
their civil allowance during life, shall be under the guarantee 
of all. 

Art. 7. H. I. M. the Sultan counts amongst his sovereign 
prerogatives : the mention of his name in the mosques during 
public prayers ; the stamping of coins ; the conferring of grades 
and decorations as per special regulations governing same; the 
nomination to high public offices as per special laws ; the choice 
and nomination of the grand-vizier and the high priest, and the 
investing of the cabinet members with power, which the grand- 



Constitutional Government 371 



vizier forms and presents for his approval ; in case of necessity 
the revocation and change of ministers, as per regulations ; the 
sanction, the promulgation and enactment of general laws ; the 
making of regulations regarding the operations of the depart- 
ments of State and the manner of enforcing the laws; the 
initiative of all the laws ; the maintenance and execution of the 
civil and religious laws ; the investiture of the chiefs of the priv- 
ileged provinces in the manner which has been conceded them ; 
the commandment of the land and naval forces ; the declaration 
of war; the making of peace; the commutation and delay of the 
sentences passed by the criminal courts ; the proclamation of gen- 
eral amnesties approved by the national assembly ; the opening 
and closing of the parliamentary sessions ; the summoning of the 
national assembly for special session under extraordinary cir- 
cumstances ; the dissolution of the House of Deputies, with the 
permission of the Senate as per Article 35, to proceed with new 
elections, and to call to meeting the new assembly in the space 
of three months ; the conclusion of all treaties. 

Only the approval of Parliament, is necessary for the con- 
clusion of treaties regarding the peace, commerce, the secession 
or annexation of territory, the fundamental and individual rights 
of the Ottoman subjects, and those for which is necessary for 
the State to spend money. In case of a change of ministers, when 
Parliament is not in session, the responsibility of this change shall 
fall upon the new cabinet. 

PUBLIC RIGHT OF THE OTTOMANS. 

Art. 8. All the subjects of the Empire are called Ottomans, 
no matter what religion they profess. 

The rights of Ottoman are acquired or lost according to the 
case specified by law. 

Art. 9. All Ottomans shall enjoy individual liberty, on the 
condition that they do not attempt against the liberty of others. 

Art. 10. Individual liberty shall be inviolable. No one can. 
without any pretext, be arrested or sentenced, except according 
to the manner and case determined by religious and civil laws. 

Art. II. The State religion shall be that of Islam. 

Even though safeguarding this principle, the State protects the 
free exercise of all cults recognized in the Empire and maintains 
the religious privileges given to the various communities, on the 
condition that they do not offend the public order and good 
habits. 

Art. 12. The press is free within the limits set by law. It 
cannot under any pretext be subjected to previous censure, before 
the impression. 



372 Constitutional Government 



Art. 13. The Ottomans are at liberty to form commercial, 
industrial or agricultural associations, within the limits determined 
by the laws and regulations. 

Art. 14. One or more persons belonging to the Ottoman na- 
tionality have the right to present petitions to the competent au- 
thority, regarding infractions of laws or regulations, committed 
against their person, or against the public interest, and they can 
also address, as a reclamation, signed petitions to the Ottoman 
General Assembly, complaining of the conduct of functionaries 
or employees of the State. 

Art. 15. Education shall be free. 

Each Ottoman may hold public or private courses, on the con- 
dition that he complies with the law. 

Art. 16. All schools shall be placed under the superintendence 
of the State. 

The government shall find proper means to unify and regulate 
the teaching given to all Ottomans, but it cannot interfere with 
the religious teaching of the different communities. 

Art. 17. All Ottomans are equal before the law. They have 
the same rights and duties towards the country, no matter what 
their religion may be. 

Art. 18. The admission to public offices shall be upon the 
condition that Turkish must be recognized as the official language 
of the State. 

Art. 19. All Ottomans shall be admitted to public office, ac- 
cording to their aptitude, their merit and their capacity. 

Art. 20. The laying and division of taxes shall be made ac- 
cording to special laws and regulations, in proportion to the 
fortune of each contributor. 

Art. 21. Movable and immovable property, established ac- 
cording to regulations shall be guaranteed. 

Expropriation cannot take place, except in a case of public 
utility duly stated, and against previous payment, according to 
law, of the value to be expropriated. 

Art. 22. The home is inviolable. 

The authorities cannot enter by force into any house, except 
in the cases specified by law. 

Art. 23. No one shall be compelled to appear in another but 
the competent court, as per law of procedure that shall be enacted. 

Art. 24. The confiscation of goods, feudal taxation upon 
servants, and djereme (exaction under the form of pecuniary 
penalty) shall be prohibited. 

All contributions raised legally in time of war and measures 
made necessary by a state of war, shall be excepted from this 
disposition. 



Constitutional Government 373 



Art. 25. No sum of money shall be taken as duty or tax or 
under any other denomination except by virtue of one law. 

Art. 26. Questioning and torture in all its forms are com- 
pletely and absolutely prohibited. 

THE MINISTERS. 

Art. 27. As H. I. M. the Sultan vests the power of Grand 
Vizier and high priest on the persons upon whom he has placed 
his confidence, he shall also confirm in their functions, by imperial 
decree, the other ministers, chosen and proposed by the Grand 
Vizier, who is charged with the formation of the cabinet. 

Art. 28. The council of ministers meets under the presidency 
of the Grand Vizier and has for its duty the deliberation of im- 
portant afifairs, both exterior and interior. Deliberations that 
must be submitted to the sanction of H. I. M. the Sultan shall be 
enacted by imperial decree. 

Art. 29. Each ministerial department head, administers 
within the limits of his power, the afifairs that are assorted to his 
department, and those that are beyond his power he must refer 
to the grand vizier. The grand vizier shall dispose of the reports 
sent to him by the head of each department, by bringing them 
before the council of ministers, and submitting them immediately 
to the imperial sanction, or on the other hand to enact them him- 
self or submit them to the decision of H. I. M. the Sultan, 
Special rules will regulate this division of duties for each minis- 
terial department. The high priest shall submit directly to the 
approbation of the Sultan the afifairs that do not need ministerial 
deliberation. 

Art. 30. The ministers are jointly responsible before the House 
of Deputies, for the general policy of the government, and in- 
dividually for their personal acts. The decisions that need im- 
perial approval shall not be valid unless they are signed by the 
sovereign and countersigned by the grand vizier and competent 
minister, who assumes in this manner the responsibility. The 
decisions passed by the Council shall be signed by all the ministers 
and in case they need imperial approval they shall be preceded 
by the signature of the sovereign. 

Art. 31. If one or several members of the House of Deputies 
wishes to make a complaint against one of the ministers regard- 
ing his responsibility and on account of things which the House 
has a right to know, the complaint shall be given to the president, 
v;ho will send it, inside of three days, by virtue of internal regula- 
tions, to the bureau charged with examining the complaint and 
deciding whether it should be submitted to the deliberation of the 
House. 



374 Constitutional Government 



The decision of this bureau shall be taken by majority vote, 
after the necessary information has been obtained and explana- 
tions given by the Minister accused. 

If the bureau decides to submit the complaint to the House, 
the report stating this decision, shall be read in public session, 
and the House, after having heard the explanations of the Minis- 
ter accused, who has been called to assist at this session, or of 
his representative, shall vote by absolute majority of its members 
on the conclusions of this report. 

In case these decisions are adopted, an address asking for the 
trial of the Minister accused, is sent to the Grand Vizier who in 
his turn submits it to H. I. M. the Sultan, and then forwards it 
to the High Court by virtue of Imperial Decree. 

Art. 32. A special law shall determine the manner of pro- 
ceeding for the judgment of ministers. 

Art. 33. There shall be no difference between the Ministers 
and private parties, as regards private matters which are outside 
of their functions. 

Art. 34. The Minister against whom judgment has been pro- 
nounced by the accusation Chamber of the High Court, shall be 
suspended from his functions until he has been cleared of the 
charges brought against him. 

Art. 35. In case of a disagreement between the ministers and 
House of Deputies, if the ministers persist in their proposition 
and if the House opposes it formally and repeatedly, the ministry 
is obliged to submit to the decision of the House or send their 
resignation. In case of a resignation, if the new ministry persists 
in the project of the preceding and the House again rejects it by 
a justified vote, H. I. M. the Sultan can dissolve the House of 
Deputies, with the purpose of proceeding with the new elections 
following dispositions under Article 7. But if the new House 
persists in the decision of the precedent then the acceptation of 
this decision becomes obligatory. 

Art. 36. In case of urgent necessity, if the general assembly 
is not in session, and if there is no time to call the House for a 
vote, on a law to guard the State against a danger, or safeguard 
the public security, the ministry can take the steps necessary, 
which will be in force temporarily until the convocation of Parlia- 
ment, if they are not against the precepts of the Constitution and 
upon the condition that they shall be sanctioned by imperial decree 
and submitted to the general assembly as soon as it convenes. 

Art. 37. Each Minister has the right to be present at the ses- 
sions of the Senate and the House of Deputies, or to send a repre- 
sentative from the highest functionaries in his department. 

He has also the right to be heard before any member of the 
House who has been given the floor. 



Constitutional Government 375 



Art. 38. When following a decision taken by majority vote, 
a minister is asked to appear before the House of Deputies and 
give explanations, he is obliged to answer all questions put to 
him, either by appearing personally or delegating a superior 
functionary of his department. He has also the right of post- 
poning his answer, if he thinks necessary, taking upon himself 
the responsibility of this act. All vote of suspicion emitted by 
the majority of deputies, following an interpellation against a 
minister, shall bring about his downfall, in the same manner as 
a vote of suspicion emitted against the president of the council 
shall bring about the downfall of the ministry. 



PUBI^IC FUNCTIONARIES. 

Art. 39. All nominations for the different public offices shall 
be made according to the regulations that determine the merit 
and capacity needed for admission into a State office. 

All functionaries nominated under these conditions cannot be 
revoked or changed: 

If it is not proven that his conduct legally warrants his recall. 

If he has not sent his resignation, or if his recall is not judged 
indispensable by the Government. 

The functionaries that have given proof of good conduct and 
honesty, and those whose recall the Government has judged in- 
dispensable, shall have the right of advancement, or of a retiring 
pension, or to the guarantees of reserve, as per dispositions which 
shall be determined by special regulation. 

Art. 40. The duties of the various functions shall be deter- 
mined by special regulations. 

Each functionary is responsible within the limits of his duties. 

Art. 41. All functionaries must respect their superiors, but 
obedience is not obligatory except as regards orders given within 
the limits specified by law. 

As regards acts committed against the law, the fact that the 
offender is obeying a superior, does not detract from the respon- 
■sibility of the functionary that commits them. 



THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

Art. 42. The General Assembly is composed of two Houses: 
the Senate and the House of Deputies. 

Art. 43. The two Houses composing the national assembly 
convene of their own right, the first day of November of each 
year. The opening of the session takes place by imperial decree. 



376 Constitutional Government 



The closing is fixed for the first day of March following and 
shall also be pronounced by virtue of imperial decree. Neither 
of the Houses shall convene on a different date from the other. 

Art. 44. H. I. M. the Sultan can, according to circumstances, 
be they his own, or by written demand of the absolute majority 
of the deputies, advance the opening of the general assembly or 
prolong the same, either by his own wish or by decision of the 
assembly itself. 

Art. 45. The solemnity of the opening shall take place in the 
presence of H. I. M. the Sultan, either in person, or represented 
by the Grand Vizier and in the presence of the ministers and 
members of both Houses. 

An Imperial message shall be read stating the interior situation 
of the Empire, and the exterior relations of the state, for the 
past year, and indicating the measures that are advisable to take. 

Art. 46. All of the members of the General Assembly shall 
give oath that they will be loyal to H. I. M. the Sultan and to the 
country, to observe the Constitution, to fulfill the duties that have 
been given them, and to do nothing against their duties. 

The giving of oath by the new members shall take place in 
the opening session, in the presence of the Grand Vizier, and 
after the opening session before their respective presidents, in 
public session of the House to which they belong. 

Art. 47. The members of the General Assembly shall be free 
in their votes and opinions. 

They shall not be bound by instructions or promises, nor in- 
fluenced by threats. 

They cannot be prosecuted for their opinions or votes given 
during the course of deliberation in the House of which they 
form part, unless same are against the rules of said House, in 
which case the dispositions edited by regulations shall be applied 
to his case. 

Art. 48. Any member of the General Assembly, who by ab- 
solute majority of votes is accused of treason, or of an attempt 
at violating the Constitution or fraud, or who has been legally 
sentenced to imprisonment or exile, shall loose his position of 
senator or deputy. 

The judgment and application of the sentence shall belong to 
the competent court. 

Art. 49. Each member of the General Assembly shall vote 
in person. He has the right to be absent at the moment of voting. 

Art. 50. No one shall be, at the same time, member of the two 
Houses. 

Art. 51. No deliberation shall take place in either of the 
Houses unless half of its members are present. 

Excepting the cases for which a two-third majority is required, 



Constitutional Government 377 



all resolutions shall be taken by absolute majority of the members 
present. 

In case of a tie the voice of the president shall decide. 

Art. 52. All petitions regarding private interests, presented to 
either of the Houses, shall be rejected, if the references asked 
for shov^' that the petitioner did not address, in the first place, 
the public functionaries who have this in charge or the authority 
that takes the place of these functionaries. 

Art. 53. The initiative on the proposition of a law or modifi- 
cation of an existing law belongs to the ministers, senators and 
deputies. Every new law, or change in a law approved by one 
House is sent to the other, and after its approval by the second 
it shall be sent for the sanction of H. I. M. the Sultan. 

Art. 54. The projects of law shall be first submitted to the 
discussion and deliberation of the House of Deputies and Senate; 
but they shall not go into effect, until after being approved by 
both Houses they shall be sanctioned by imperial decree. All 
laws presented to the sovereign must be sanctioned inside of two 
months or sent back to be submitted to a second deliberation. 
The law sent back before parliament for a second deliberation 
must receive there the majority of two thirds. A law that has 
been declared urgent, shall be sanctioned or returned to Parlia- 
ment inside of ten days. 

Art. 55. A project of law shall not be considered as adopted 
if it is not voted successively by the House of Deputies and 
Senate, with a majority of votes, each article separately, and if 
the whole of the project has not received the majority of votes 
of each House. 

Art. 56. With the exception of the Ministers, their delegates 
and functionaries who have been called by special invitation, no 
one shall be presented in either House, nor allowed to make any 
communication whatsoever, no matter if he comes in his own 
name or representting a group of persons. 

Art. 57. The deliberations of the Houses shall take place in 
the Turkish language. 

The projects shall be printed and distributed the day before it 
is discussed. 

Art. 58. The votes shall be given : by personal call ; by out- 
ward signs of manifestation or by a secret method. 

The secret vote shall be submitted to the decision of the House 
by majority of the members present. 

Art. 59. The internal poUce power of each House is exer- 
cised by its president. 



378 Constitutional Government 



THE SENATE. 

Art. 60. The president and members of the Senate shall be 
nominated directly by his Majesty the Sultan. 

The number of Senators cannot exceed the third of the mem- 
bers of the House of Deputies. 

Art. 61. The following specifications are needed in order to 
be nominated Senator : 

To have become by his acts worthy of public confidence, or 

To have rendered good service to the State. 

To be at least forty years old. 

Art. 62. The Senators shall be named for life. 

The dignity of Senator may be conferred upon persons in 
reserve, who have exercised the functions of minister, governor 
general (vali), commandant of the army corps, cazasker (su- 
preme judge), ambassador or plenipotentiary minister, patriarch, 
khakhambachi (grand rabbi), upon the generals of division of 
the land and naval forces, and in general upon persons who unite 
all the conditions required. 

The members of Senate called to take another post, shall lose 
their quality of Senators. 

Art. 63. The remuneration of a Senator shall be fixed at the 
sum of ten thousand piasters a month. 

The Senator who receives from the Treasury a salary or re- 
muneration from another title, shall only have the right to the 
complement if the sum received is under ten thousand piasters. 
If this amount is equal or superior to the salary of Senator he 
shall continue to receive same. 

Art. 64. The Senate examines the projects of law or budget 
sent by the House of Deputies. 

If during the examination of a project of law the Senate finds 
that a disposition is against the sovereign rights of His Majesty 
the Sultan, the liberty, the Constitution, the territorial integrity 
of the Empire, interior safety of the country, the interest and 
defense of the country, or the good habits, it will reject it 
definitely by a justified vote, or return it, accompanied by its ob- 
servations, to the House of Deputies, asking that it shall be 
amended or changed according to said observations. 

The projects of law approved by the Senate shall be sent to 
the Grand Vizier, accompanied by its approval. 

The Senate shall examine the petitions presented; those that 
are considered worthy shall be sent with its observations to the 
Grand Vizier. 



Constitutional Government 379 



THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. 

Art. 65. The number of Deputies shall be fixed at the rate 
of one per each fifty thousand male citizens of the Ottoman 
Empire. 

Art. 66. The election shall be secret. The manner of electing 
shall be determined by a special law. 

Art. 67. The position of deputy is incompatible with the 
public functions, excepting those of minister. 

All other public functionaries, elected deputies, are free to ac- 
cept or reject the post, but, in case they accept, they must resign 
their functions immediately. 

Art. 68. The following are not eligible for deputies : 

1. Those who do not belong to the Ottoman nationality; 

2. Those who by virtue of special regulations in vigor, enjoy 
the immunities attached to the foreign service which they ex- 
ercise ; 

3. Those who do not know Turkish ; 

4. Those who are not thirty years of age; 

5. Those in the services of a private party; 

6. Those who are bankrupt and have not been rehabilitated; 

7. Those who have been notoriously discredited by their con- 
duct ; 

8. Those who have been judicially interdicted as long as this 
prohibition is not lifted; 

9. Those who do not enjoy their civil rights ; 

10. Those who wish to belong to a foreign nation. 

After the expiration of the first period of four years one of 
the conditions to the eligibility as deputy shall be to be able to 
read Turkish and as much as possible, to write this language. 

Art. 69. The general elections of deputies shall take place 
every four years. 

The functions of each deputy shall only last four years, but he 
can be reelected. 

Art. 70. The general elections shall take place, at the latest, 
four months before November i, which is the date set for the 
meeting of the House. 

Art. 71. Each member of the House of Deputies represents 
all the Ottoman subjects, and not the party that nominated him. 

Art. 72. The electors must choose their deputies from the in- 
habitants of the province to which they belong. 

Art. 73. In case of dissolution of the House of Deputi'es by 
Imperial Decree, the general elections must take place in time for 
the House to meet again, or at the latest within six months of its 
dissolution. 

Art. 74. In case of death, judicial interdict, prolonged ab- 



380 Constitutional Government 



sence, loss of post as deputy resulting from a sentence, or ac- 
ceptation of public functions, the vacancy shall be filled, as per 
prescriptions of electoral law, as soon as the deputy is able to 
take his post, or at the latest, in the following session. 

Art. 75. The deputy elected to fill a vacancy shall only exer- 
cise his functions until the following general elections. 

Art. 76. The treasury shall allow each deputy, thirty thou- 
sand piasters per session and traveling expenses, established as 
per dispositions of the regulations that rule the civil functionaries 
of the State, calculated on a basis of five thousand piasters 
monthly salary. He shall also be allowed an indemnity of five 
thousand piasters a month for each session lasting more than the 
fixed period. 

Art. yy. At each session the House of Deputies elects, by 
majority, one president and two vice-presidents who are sub- 
mitted to imperial approval. 

Art. 78. The sessions of the House of Deputies shall be 
public. 

The House has a right to meet secretly if the proposition is 
made by the Ministers, or the President, or by fifteen members, 
and if this proposition is voted on in secret. 

Art. 79. No Deputy shall be arrested or prosecuted, during 
the session, unless he be caught in the act, without a decision 
taken by the House giving permission for the prosecution. 

Art. 80. The House of Deputies examines in detail the gen- 
eral expenses of the State, and sums the total in the presence of 
the ministers. The nature and amount of revenue, that must be 
used in payment of same, the manner of distribution and collec- 
tion, must also be determined in their presence. 

THE JUDICIAL POWER. 

Art. 81. The judges, nominated as per special law that rules 
this matter, and possessing their documents of investiture (Berat), 
are irremovable, but they may send in their resignation. 

The advancement of judges in their hierarchic order, their 
transfer, their retirement, their recall in case of judicial sentence, 
are submitted to the dispositions of the same law. 

This law determines the conditions and qualities required to 
exercise the functions of judge and other judicial functions. 

Art. 82. The audiences in all courts shall be public. 

The publication of sentences is authorized. 

In the cases specified by the law, the court may hold session 
behind closed doors. 

Art. 83. Any person may, in his own defense, make use of the 
means given by the law, before the court. 



Constitutional Government 381 



Art. 84. The court cannot, under any pretext whatsoever, 
refuse to judge a case that comes under its jurisdiction. 

It cannot stop or adjourn a judgment after it has commenced 
the examination or instruction, unless the complainant refuses 
to continue the case. 

In penal cases, public action shall continue according to law 
even after the complainant has refused to continue. 

Art. 85. Each case is judged by the competent court. 

Litigation between private persons and the State shall be taken 
up in the ordinary courts. 

Art. 86. There shall not be allowed any interference in the 
courts. 

Art. 87. The affairs concerning the Cheri are judged by the 
courts of the Cheri; the judgment of civil affairs belongs to the 
civil courts. 

Art. 88. The various categories of the courts, their com- 
petence, their attributions and emoluments of the judges shall be 
regulated by the laws. 

Art. 89. Outside of the ordinary courts, no extraordinary 
courts, nor commissions to judge special cases, shall be instituted 
under any denomination whatsoever. 

Arbitration (Takkin), and the nomination of a muvella (judge- 
delegate), shall be permitted in the manner determined by law. 

Art. 90. A judge cannot hold any other remunerative State 
office. 

Art. 91. Imperial attorneys shall be instituted, charged with 
conducting the public cases. 

Their attributions and hierarchy shall be determined by law. 

THE SUPREME COURT. 

Art. 92. The Supreme Court is formed of thirty members, 
ten senators, ten counselors of State and ten members chosen 
from the presidents and members of the Abrogate Court and 
Appellate Court. 

All the members shall be chosen by chance. 

The Supreme Court meets, whenever necessary, by Imperial 
Decree, and holds session in the House of the Senate. 

Their attributions consist in judging: 

The ministers ; 

The president and the members of the Abrogate Court ; 

And all other persons accused of the crime of lese-majeste, or 
attempt against the safety of the State. 

Art. 93. The Supreme Court is composed of two Chambers : 
the Chamber of accusation and the Chamber of judgment. 

The Chamber of accusation is composed of nine members, 



382 Constitutional Government 



chosen by chance from the members of the Supreme Court; three 
senators, three counselors of State and three members of the 
Abrogate Court and Appellate Court. 

Art. 94. The person coming before the Chamber of judg- 
ment shall be pronounced tipon by the Chamber of accusation, by 
a majority of two thirds of its members. 

The members of the Chamber of accusation cannot take part 
in the deliberations of the Chamber of judgment. 

Art. 95. The Chamber of judgment is composed of twenty- 
one members, seven senators, seven counselors of State and seven 
members of the Abrogate Court and the Appellate Court. 

The judgment of the cases sent by the Chamber of accusation 
shall be passed by a majority of two thirds of its members. 

Its judgments cannot be appealed nor repealed. 



THE FINANCES. 

Art. 96. No tax reverting to the State shall be established, 
distributed or collected unless it be by virtue of one law. 

Art. 97. The budget shall contain provisions of receipts and 
expenses of the State. 

The duties reverting to the State, shall be regulated by this 
law, as regard their imposition, distribution and collection. 

Art. 98. The examination and vote of the budget by the 
General Assembly shall be taken by articles. 

The annexed lists, containing the receipts and expenses in de- 
tail, shall be divided in sections, chapters and articles, according 
to the model determined by regulations. 

These lists will voted on by chapters. 

Art. 99. The project of law of the budget will be submitted 
to the house of Deputies immediately after the opening session 
so that they may be put into execution at the beginning of the 
exercise to which they refer. 

Art. 100. Any expenses not mentioned in the budget cannot 
be paid by State funds, unless it be by virtue of a law. 

Art. loi. In case of urgent necessity caused by extraordinary 
circumstances, the Ministers have the power, during the absence 
of the General Assembly, to create, by Imperial Decree, the neces- 
sary resources and cover an expense not mentioned in the budget, 
upon the condition that at the opening of the first session of the 
General Assembly, it must be brought up for a vote as a project 
of law. 

Art. 102. The budget is voted for a year ; it shall only be in 
force during the year to which it refers. 

If at any time, by force of exceptional circumstances, the 



Constitutional Government 383 



House of Deputies is dissolved before having voted the budget, 
the Ministers may, by a decision taken per Imperial Decree, use 
the budget of the preceding year until the following session. The 
provisional use of this budget cannot extend over one year. 

Art. 103. The final law regulating the budget, indicates the 
total receipts and payments made on the revenues and the ex- 
penses of the year to which it refers. 

Its form and divisions must be the same as the budget. 

Art. 104. The final project of law regulating this, must be 
submitted to the House of Deputies, at the latest, inside of four 
years, counting from the end of the year in which it was used. 

Art. 105. A Court of Accounts shall be instituted, charged 
with the examination of the operations of those responsible for 
the finances, and the annual accounts of the various ministerial 
departments. 

This court will send every year to the House of Deputies a 
special report containing the results of its work and its observa- 
tions. 

At the end of every third month this court will present to His 
Majesty the Sultan, through the Grand Vizier, a report of the 
financial situation. 

Art. 106. The Court of Accounts shall be composed of twelve 
members, who are nominated for life by Imperial Decree. 

None of them shall be deposed unless a justified reason for 
this action is approved by the House of Deputies, by a majority 
vote. 

Art. 107. The conditions and qualities asked of the members 
of the Court of Accounts, the detail of their attributions, the 
rules used in case of resignation, the replacement, advancement 
and retirement, as well as the organization of the bureaux of the 
Court, shall be determined by special law. 

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION. 

Art. 108. The Administration of the Provinces shall have for 
basis the principle of decentralization. 

The details of this organization shall be determined by a law. 

Art. 109. A special law on a larger basis will regulate the 
election of the Provincial Administrative Councils (vilayet), the 
district (sandjack), and canton (kaza), as well as the General 
Council, and these shall meet annually at the capital of each 
province. 

Art. no. The attributions of the General Provincial Council 
shall be determined by the same special law, and they are as 
follows : 



384 Constitutional Government 



The faculty of deciding on cases of public utility, as the estab- 
lishing of communications, the organization of agricultural credit 
banks, the development of industry, commerce and agriculture 
and the propagation of public instruction. 

The right to complain to the competent authorities to obtain 
the correction of acts committed against the laws and regulations 
whether it be regarding the distribution or collection of the taxes 
or in any other matter. 

Art. III. In each kaza there shall be a Council representing 
each of the various communities. This Council shall be in 
charge : 

1. Of the administration of the immovable revenues or funds 
vakoufs (religious institutions), whose special purpose shall be 
determined by the dispositions expressed by the founders or by 
custom ; 

2. The employment of funds or goods affected by testa- 
mentary disposition, for acts of charity or benefaction ; 

3. The administration of orphan funds, according to special 
regulations that rule the matter. 

Each Council shall be composed of members elected by the 
community they represent, as per special regulations to be estab- 
lished. 

These Councils shall take the place of the local authorities and 
the General Provincial Councils. 

Art, 112. The municipal affairs shall be administrated at 
Constantinople and in the provinces by the Municipal Councils 
elected. 

The organization of the Municipal Councils, their attributions 
and the manner of electing their members shall be determined 
by a special law. 

VARIOUS DISPOSITIONS. 

Art. 113. In case of confirmation of facts, or indications of 
a nature that predict trouble in any part of the Imperial territory, 
the Imperial Government has the right to proclaim martial law. 

Martial law shall result in the temporary suspension of the 
civil laws. 

The manner of administration of the localities submitted to 
martial law shall be regulated by a special law. 

Art. 114. Primary instruction is compulsory for all Ottomans. 
The details of same shall be regulated by a special law._ 

Art. 115. Any disposition given under this Constitution, shall 
not, under any pretext whatsoever, be suspended or abandoned. 

Art. 116. In case of necessity, duly stated, the Constitution 



Constitutional Government 385 



may be changed in some of its dispositions. This change shall be 
under the following conditions : 

All propositions for changes, whether presented by the min- 
istry, or by either House, must first be submitted to the discussion 
of the House of Deputies ; 

If the proposition is approved by a majority of two thirds of 
the members of this House, it shall then be sent to the Senate ; 

In case that the Senate adopts the change proposed, by a two- 
thirds majority of Senators, it shall then be sent for the approval 
of His Majesty the Sultan; 

If it is sanctioned by Imperial Decree, it shall then go in force 
as a law ; 

Any disposition of the Constitution which is the object of a 
proposition for change, is in vigor, until this proposition after 
being approved by both Houses is sanctioned by Imperial Decree. 

Art. 117. The interpretation of the laws belongs: 

To the Abrogate Court on civil and penal laws ; 

To the Council of State on administrative laws ; 

To the Senate on the dispositions of the Constitution. 

Art. 118. The laws, regulations and customs actually in vigor 
shall continue to be used as long as they are not repealed or 
changed by other laws and regulations. Religious, civil and 
moral prescriptions according to the need of humanity and time 
shall be adopted as basis in the making of a law. 



Three other articles have been added to the constitutional law, 
having received the Nos. 119, 120 and 121, awaiting the time 
when they will be placed in their special chapter at the moment 
of a final examination of the constitutional revision. These three 
articles are the following: 

Art. 119. The documents and letters sent through the mails 
cannot be opened without an order from the judge of instruction 
or the court. 

Art. 120. The Ottomans have the right of holding meetings 
upon the condition that they respect the dispositions of the law 
adhoc. The forming of Societies contrary to good habits, or 
having for purpose an attempt against the territorial integrity 
of the Ottoman Empire, to change the form of Constitution and 
government, to act against the dispositions of the constitutional 
law and to politically separate the various Ottoman elements, is 
absolutely prohibited. The forming of Secret Societies is also 
absolutely prohibited. 

Art. 121. The discussions of the Senate are public, but upon 
a move of the ministers or five senators to discuss any important 
question in secret, the hall shall be evacuated with the exception 



386 Constitutional Government 



of the members of the Assembly, and the proposition shall be 
accepted or rejected by majority of votes. 

The 5 Chaban 1327 (August 8, 1325). 



NEW ZEALAND. 

The Dutch navigator Tasman discovered New Zealand in 
1642, and in 1769 Captain Cook took possession of the country 
for George III. The first settlement of the Europeans was 
made in 1814, but no colonization took place until 1839. In 
1 841 New Zealand was by letters patent erected into a separate 
colony distinct from New South Wales. 

(From New Zealand Official Year Book.) 

THE MAORIS. 

Prior to the colonization of New Zealand by Europeans, the 
earliest navigators and explorers found a race of people already 
inhabiting both Islands. Papers written in 1874 by Mr. (after- 
wards Sir) William Fox and Sir Donald McLean (then Native 
Minister) state that at what time the discovery of these Islands 
was made by the Maoris, or from what place they came, are 
matters of tradition only, and that much has been lost in the 
obscurity enveloping the history of a people without letters. Nor 
is there anything on record respecting the origin of the Maori 
people themselves, byond the general tradition of the Polynesian 
race, which seems to show a series of successive misfrations from 
west to east, probably by way of Malaysia to the Pacific. Little 
more can now be gathered from their traditions than that they 
were immigrants and that they probably found inhabitants on 
the east coast of the North Island belonging to the same race as 
themselves — the descendants of a prior migration, whose history 
is lost. The tradition runs that, generations ago, the Maoris 
dwelt in a country named Hawaiki, and that one of their chiefs, 
after a long voyage, reached the northern island of New Zealand. 
Returning to his home with a flattering description of the coun- 
try he had discovered, this chief, it is said, persuaded a number 
of his kinsfolk and friends, who were much harassed by war. to 
set out with a fleet of double canoes for the new land. The 
names of most of the canoes are still remembered, and each tribe 
agrees in its account of the doings of the people of the principal 
canoes after their arrival in New Zealand ; and from these tradi- 
tional accounts the descent of the numerous tribes has been 



Constitutional Government 387 



traced. Calculations, based on the genealogical staves kept by 
the tohungas, or priests, and on the well-authenticated traditions 
of the people, indicate that about twenty-one generations have 
passed since the migration, which may therefore be assumed to 
have taken place about five hundred and twenty-five years ago. 
The position of the legendary Hawaiki is unknown, but many 
places in the South Seas have been thus named in memory of 
the motherland. The Maoris speak a very pure dialect of the 
Polynesian language, the common tongue, with more or less vari- 
ation, in all the eastern Pacific islands. When Captain Cook 
first visited New Zealand he availed himself of the services of 
a Native from Tahiti, whose speech was easily understood by the 
Maoris. In this way much information respecting the early his- 
tory of the country and its inhabitants was obtained which could 
not have otherwise been had. 

For results of recent researches as to probable origin of the 
Maoris, see Year-book for 1901. 

CONSTITUTION. 

British sovereignty was proclaimed over New Zealand in Janu- 
ary, 1840, and the country became a dependency of New South 
Wales until the 3rd May, 1841, when it was made a separate 
colony. The seat of Government was at Auckland, and the Exec- 
utive included the Governor, and three gentlemen holding office 
as Colonial Secretary, Attorney-General, and Colonial Treasurer. 

The successors of these gentlemen, appointed in August, 1841, 
May, 1842, and January, 1844, respectively, continued in office 
until the establishment of Responsible Government on the 7th 
of May, 1856. Only one of them^ — Mr. Swainson, the Attorney- 
General — sat as a member of the first General Assembly, opened 
on the 27th May, 1854. During the session of that year there 
were associated with the permanent members of the Executive 
Council certain members of the General Assembly. These lat- 
ter held no portofolios. 

The Government of the colony was at first vested in the Gov- 
ernor, who was responsible only to the Crown ; but in 1852 an 
Act granting representative institutions to the colony was passed 
by the Imperial Legislature. Under it the constitution of a Gen- 
eral Assembly for the whole colony was provided for, to consist 
of a Legislative Council, the members of which were to be nomi- 
nated by the Governor, and of an elective House of Represen- 
tatives. The first session of the General Assembly was opened 
on the 27th May, 1854, but the members of the Executive were 
not responsible to Parliament. The first Ministers under a sys- 



388 Constitutional Government 



tem of Responsible Government were appointed in the year 1856. 
By the Act of 1852 the colony was divided into six provinces, 
each to be presided over by an elective Superintendent, and to 
have an elective Provincial Council, empowered to legislate, ex- 
cept on certain specified subjects. The franchise amounted prac- 
tically to household suflfrage. In each case the election was for 
four years, but a dissolution of the Provincial Council by the 
Governor could take place at any time, necessitating a fresh 
election both of the Council and of the Superintendent. The 
Superintendent was chosen by the whole body of electors of the 
province ; each member of the Provincial Council by the electors 
of a district. The Provincial Governments, afterwards increased 
to nine, remained as integral parts of the Constitution of the 
colony until the ist November, 1876, when they were abolished 
by an Act of the General Assembly, that body having been 
vested with the power of altering the Constitution Act. On the 
same day an Act of the General Assembly which subdivided the 
colony (exclusive of the areas included within municipalities) 
into counties, and established a system of local county govern- 
ment, came into force. 

By resolutions passed by the House of Representatives on the 
I2th July, 1907, and by the Legislative Council on the i6th July, 
1907, addresses were forwarded to His Majesty the King respect- 
fully requesting that the necessary steps might be taken to change 
the designation of New Zealand from the Colony of New Zeal- 
and to the Dominion of New Zealand ; and His Majesty the King 
by Order in Council dated 9th September, 1907, and by Procla- 
mation issued loth September, 1907, was graciously pleased to 
change the style and designation of the Colony of New Zealand 
to "The Dominion of New Zealand ;" such change taking effect 
from Thursday, the 26th day of September, 1907. 



GOVERNMENT. 

The Governor is appointed by the King. His salary is £5,000 
a year, with an annual allowance of £1,500 on account of his 
establishment, and of £500 for traveling expenses, provided by 
the Dominion. 

Members of the Legislative Council hold their seats under writs 
of summons from the Governor. Till the year 1891 the appoint- 
ments were for life; but in September of that year an Act was 
passed making appointments after that time tenable for seven 
years only, though Councillors may be reappointed. In either 
case seats may be vacated by resignation or extended absence. 
Two members of the Council are aboriginal Native chiefs. 



Constitutional Government 389 



The members of the House of Representatives (now desig- 
nated M. P.) are elected for three years from the time of each 
general election ; but at any time a dissolution of Parliament by 
the Governor may render a general election necessary. Four of 
the members are representatives of Native constituencies. For 
the purposes of European representation the Dominion is divided 
into seventy-six electoral districts, each returning one member. 
The full number of members composing the House of Repre- 
sentatives is thus eighty. Members of the House of Represent- 
atives are chosen by the voters of the electors in every electoral 
district appointed for that purpose. 

In 1889 an amendment of the Representation Act was passed, 
which contained a provision prohibiting any elector from giving 
his vote in respect of more than one electorate at any election. 
In 1893 women of both races were granted by law the right to 
vote at the elections for members of the House of Representa- 
tives. The qualification for registration is the same for both 
sexes. No person is entitled to be registered on more than one 
electoral roll within the Dominion. Women are not qualified 
to be elected as members of the House of Representatives. Every 
man registered as an elector, and not specially excepted by the 
Legislature Act now in force, is qualified to be elected a member 
of the House of Representatives for any electoral district. For 
European representation every adult person, if resident one year 
in the Dominion and three months in one electoral district, can 
be registered as an elector. Freehold property of the value of 
£25 held for six months preceding the day of registration until 
1896 entitled a man or woman to register, if not previously regist- 
ered under the residential qualification; but in 1896 the property 
qualification was abolished (except in case of existing registra- 
tion), and residence alone now entitles a man or woman to have 
his or her name placed upon an electoral roll. For Maori repre- 
sentation every adult Maori resident in any Maori electoral dis- 
trict (of which there are four only in the Dominion) can vote. 
Registration is not required in Native districts. (The above pro- 
visions are now incorporated in the Legislature Act, 1908, which 
consolidates the electoral laws.) The electoral laws are the sub- 
ject of special comment further on in this work. 



THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 

Up to the year 1865 the seat of Government of New Zealand 
was at Auckland. Several attempts were made by members of 
Parliament, by motions in the Legislative Council and House of 
Representatives, to have it removed to some more central place; 



390 Constitutional Government 



but it was not until November, 1863, that Mr. Domett (the then 
ex-Premier) was successful in carrying resolutions in the House 
of Representatives that steps should be taken for appointing some 
place in Cook Strait as the permanent seat of Government. The 
resolutions adopted were: "(i.) That it has become necessary 
that the seat of Government in the colony should be transferred 
to some suitable locality in Cook Strait. (2.) That, in order to 
promote the accomplishment of this object, it is desirable that the 
selection of the particular site in Cook Strait should be left to 
the arbitrament of an impartial tribunal. (3.) That, with this 
view, a Bill should be introduced to give effect to the above reso- 
lutions." On the 25th November an address was presented to 
the Governor, Sir George Grey, K. C. V., by the Commons of 
New Zealand, requesting that the Governors of the Colonies of 
New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, might each be asked 
to appoint one Commissioner for the purpose of determining the 
best site in Cook Strait. Accordingly, the Hon. Joseph Docker, 
M. L. C, New South Wales; the Hon. Sir Francis Murphy, 
Speaker of the Legislative Council, Victoria; and R. C. Gunn, 
Esq., Tasmania, were appointed Commissioners. 

These gentlemen, having made a personal inspection of all 
suitable places, arrived at the unanimous decision "that Welling- 
ton, in Port Nicholson, was the site upon the shores of Cook 
Strait which presented the greatest advantages for the admin- 
istration of the government of the colony." 

The seat of Government was, therefore, in accordance with 
the recommendations of the Commissioners, removed to Welling- 
ton in February, 1865. 



THE DOMINION. 

New Zealand, formerly a colony, has, since September, 1907, 
by Royal Proclamation, been granted the designation of "Domin- 
ion," and is referred to accordingly in this book. It consists of 
three main islands, with several groups of smaller islands lying 
at some distance from the principal group. The main islands, 
known as the North, the South, and Stewart Islands, have a 
coast-hne 4,330 miles in length: North Island, 2,200 miles; 
South Island, 2,000 miles; and Stewart Island, 130 miles. Other 
islands included within the Dominion are the Chatham, Auck- 
land, Campbell, Three Kings, Antipodes, Bounty, and Kerma- 
dee Islands. The annexation of the Cook and sundry other 



Constitutional Government 391 



islands has necessitated an enlargement of the boundaries of the 
Dominion, which will be specially treated of further on. 

New Zealand is mountainous in many parts, but has, never- 
theless, large plains in both North and South Islands. In the 
North Island, which is highly volcanic, is situated the famous 
Thermal-Springs District, of which a special account will be 
given. The South Island is remarkable for its lofty mountains, 
with their magniticent glaciers, and for the deep sounds or fiords 
on the western coast. 

New Zealand is firstly a pastoral and secondary an agricutural 
country. Sown grasses are grown almost everywhere, the extent 
of land laid down being more than thirteen millions and a half 
of acres. The soil is admirably adapted for receiving these 
grasses, and, after the bush has been burnt off, is mostly sown 
over without previous ploughing. In the South Island a large 
area is covered with native grasses, all used for grazing purposes. 
The large extent of good grazing-land has made the Dominion 
a great wool, meat, and dairy-produce country; while its agri- 
cultural capabilities are, speaking generally, very considerable. 
The abundance of water and the quantity of valuable timber are 
other natural advntges. 

New Zealand is, besides, a mining country. Large deposits of 
coal are met with, chiefly on the west coast of the South Island. 
Gold, alluvial and in quartz, is found in both Islands, the yield 
having been over seventy-nine millions in value to the present 
time. Full statistical information on this subject is given further 
on, compiled up to the latest dates. 

BOUNDARIES AND AREA. 

The Proclamation of Captain Hobson on the 30th January, 
1840, gave as the boundaries of what was then the colony the 
following degrees of latitude and longitude: On the north, 34° 
30' S. lat. ; on the south, 47° 10' S. lat. ; on the east, 179° o' E. 
long. ; on the west, 166° 5' E. long. These limits excluded small 
portions of the extreme north of the North Island and of the 
extreme south of Stewart Island. 

In April, 1842, by Royal Letters Patent, and again by the 
Imperial Act 26 and 27 Vict., c. 23 (1863), the boundaries were 
altered so as to extend from 33° to 53° of south latitude and 
from 162° of east longitude to 173° of west longitude. By Proc- 
lamation bearing date the 21st July, 1887, the Kermadec Islands, 
lying between the 29th and 32nd degrees of south latitude and 
the 177th and i8oth degrees of w^est longitude, were declared to 
be annexed to and to become part of the then Colony of New- 
Zealand. 



392 Constitutional Government 



By Proclamation bearing date the loth June, 1901, the Cook 
Group of islands, and all the other islands and territories situate 
within the boundary-lines mentioned in the following Schedule, 
were included : — 

A line commencing at a point at the intersection of the twenty- 
third degree of south latitude and the one hundred and fifty-sixth 
degree of longitude west of Greenwich, and proceeding due north 
to the point of intersection of the eighth degree of south latitude 
and the one hundred and fifty-sixth degree of longitude west of 
Greenwich; thence due west to the point of intersection of the 
eighth degree of south latitude and the one hundred and sixty- 
seventh degree of longitude west of Greenwich ; thence due south 
to the point of intersection of the seventeenth degree of south 
latitude and the one hundred and sixty-seventh degree of longi- 
tude west of Greenwich ; thence due west to the point of inter- 
section of the seventeenth degree of south latitude and the one 
hundred and seventieth degree of longitude west of Greenwich ; 
thence due south to the point of intersection of the twenty-third 
degree of south latitude and the one hundred and seventieth de- 
gree of longitude west of Greenwich ; and thence due east to the 
point of intersection of the twenty-third degree of south latitude 
and the one hundred and fifty-sixth degree of longitude west of 
Greenwich. 

The following now constitutes the Dominion of New Zea- 
land : — 

1. The island commonly known as the North Island, with its 
adjacent islets, having an aggregate area of 44,673 square miles, 
or 28,590,720 acres. 

2. The island known as the South Island, with adjacent islets, 
having an aggregate area of 57,823 square miles, or 37,070,720 
acres. 

3. Stewart Island, and adjacent islets, having an area of 665 
square miles, or 425,390 acres. 

4. The Chatham Islands, situate 536 miles eastward of Lyttel- 
ton in the South Island, with an area of 375 square miles, or 
239,920 acres. 

5. The Auckland Islands, about 200 miles south of Stewart 
Island, extending about 30 miles from north to south, and nearly 
15 from east to west, the area being 210,650 acres. 

6. Campbell Island, in latitude 52° 33' 26'' south, and longi- 
tude 169° 8' 41'' west, about 30 miles in circumference, with an 
area of 45,440 acres. 



Constitutional Government 393 



Area of the States of Australia. 

The areas of the several AustraHan States, as stated by differ- 
ent authorities, vary considerably. The total area of the Austra- 
lian Continent is given as 2,944,628 square miles, according to a 
computation made by the late Surveyor-General of Victoria, Mr. 
J. A. Skene, from a map of Continental Australia compiled and 
engraved under his direction; but the following areas are taken 
from latest official records : — 



Queensland 

New South Wales 

Victoria 

South Australia 

Western Australia 



Square Miles. 
670,500 

310.372 

87,884 

903,690 

975,920 



Total, Continent of Australia . . 2,948,366 
Tasmania . , . . . . 26,215 

Total, Commonwealth of Australia 2,974,581 
The size of these States (with New Zealand) may be better 
realized by comparison of their areas with those of European 
countries. The areas of the following countries — Austria-Hun- 
gary, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and 
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), 
Switzerland, Greece, Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Eastern Rou- 
melia, and Turkey in Europe — containing on the whole rather 
less than 1,600,000 square miles, amount to little more than half 
the extent of the Australian Continent. If the area of Russia 
in Europe be added to those of the other countries the total would 
be about one-seventh larger than the Australian Continent, and 
about one-twelfth larger than the Australian States, with New 
Zealand. 

Area of the Dominion of New Zealand. 

The area of the Dominion of New Zealand is about one-seventh 
less than the area of Great Britain and Ireland, the South Island 
of New Zealand being a little larger than the combined areas of 
England and Wales. 

Area in 
United Kingdom. Square Miles. 

England and Wales .. .. 58,311 

Scotland . . . . . . 30,463 

Ireland .. .. .. 32,531 

Total . . . . . . 121,305 



394 Constitutional Government 



Area in 
New Zealand. Square Miles. 

North Island . . . . 44,673 



South Island 
Stewart Island 
Chatham Islands 
Other Islands 



57,923 
665 

375 
718 



Total .. .. .. 104,354 

7. The Antipodes Islands, about 458 miles in a south-easterly 
direction from Port Chalmers, in the South Island. These are 
detached rocky islands, and extend over a distance of between 4 
and 5 miles from north to south. Area, 12,960 acres. 

8. The Bounty Islands, a small group of islets, thirteen in 
number, lying north of the Antipodes Islands, and about 415 
miles in an east-south-easterly direction from Port Chalmers. 
Area, 3,300 acres. 

9. The Kermadec Islands, a group lying about 614 miles to 
the north-east of Russell, in the Bay of Islands. Raoul, or Sun- 
day Island, the largest of these, is about 20 miles in circuit. The 
next in size is Macaulay Island, about 3 miles round. Area of 
the group, 8,208 acres. 

10. Islands forming the Cook Group : — 

Rarotonga. — Distance from Auckland, 1,638 miles; cir- 
cumference, 20 miles ; height, 2,920 ft. 

Mangaia. — Distance from Rarotonga, 116 miles; circum- 
ference, 30 miles ; height, 656 ft. 

Attn. — Distance from Rarotonga, 116 miles; circumfer- 
ence, 20 miles ; height, 374 ft. 

Aitiitaki. — Distance from Rarotonga, 140 miles; circum- 
ference, 12 miles; height, 366 ft. 

Maiike. — Distance from Rarotonga, 150 miles; circum- 
ference, 6 miles ; height, about 60 ft. 

Mitiaro. — Distance from Rarotonga, 140 miles ; circum- 
ference 5 miles, height, about 50 ft. 

Takutea. — Distant from Rarotonga, 125 miles. 

The Herveys (Manuae and Aoutu). — Distant from Raro- 
tonga, 120 miles. 
Total area of above Group, 150 square miles. 

11. Islands outside the Cook Group: — 

Savage or Nine. — Distance from Rarotonga, 580 miles ; 

circumference, 40 miles; height, 200 ft.; area, about 

TOO square miles. 
Palmerston. — Distance from Rarotonga, 273 miles; an 

atoll, 4 miles by 2 miles. 



Constitutional Government 395 



Penrhyn, or Tongareva. — Distance 735 miles from Raro- 

tonga; an atoll, 12 miles by 7 miles. 
Humphrey, or Manahiki. — Distance from Rarotonga, 650 

miles; an atoll, 6 miles by 5 miles. 
Rierson, or Rakaanga. — Distance from Rarotonga, 670 

miles ; an atoll, 3 miles by 3 miles. 
Danger, or Pukapuka. — Distance from Rarotonga, 700 

miles ; an atoll, 3 miles by 3 miles. 

Smvarrozv. — Distance from Rarotonga, 530 miles ; an atoll. 

Total area of islands outside the Cook Group, 130 square miles. 

The total area of the Dominion is thus about 104,354 square 

miles, of which the aggregate area of the outlying groups of 

islands that are practically useless for settlement amounts to 

about 498 square miles. 



ICELAND. 

The Constitution granted in 1874 to Iceland upon a demand of 
the Althing contains an article which reproduces the provisions 
of Art. 95 of the Danish Constitution with the single difference 
which serves to simplify a process still further that the Althing 
is legally dissolved by the adoption of both Houses of the pro- 
posed amendment. (Charles Borgeaud, 1895, Europe and Amer- 
ica. 

The Constitution was granted to Iceland by Christian IX., 
king of Denmark in 1874. The King visited Iceland in August 
of the same year and brought the constitution with him. He 
was received with much respect by the Icelanders and told them 
he "hoped the Constitution he brought with him might contrib- 
ute to the material prosperity of the Island and the development 
of the people." At the time the Constitution was granted the 
population of Iceland was about 70,000. 

The length of the Island is 300 miles from east to west and 
the greatest breadth 200 miles. The area is estimated ^t 39,200 
square miles. 

THE CONSTITUTION. 

The Constitution which, as the King declared, he "brought with 
him," is mainly due to the persistent claims and representations 
of Jon Sigurdsson at Copenhagen. Copies of it were furnished 
to us ; but I think it unnecessary to translate every clause in 
detail, and will here only give a brief resume of its most im- 
portant features. 



396 Constitutional Government 



The document is divided into seven parts, or chapters. The 
first of these, which contains thirteen paragraphs, deals with the 
relations between the king and Danish Government on one side 
and the legislative assembly, or Althing on the other. The legis- 
lative power with the King alone, and the judicial power with 
the judges. Iceland has no voice in Danish national questions, 
since it is not represented in the Rigsdag at Copenhagen ; conse- 
quently it bears no part of the national expenditures. The high- 
est power in Iceland belongs to the Governor, who is appointed 
by the King. Should the Althing have reason to complain of 
the Governor, the King decides in each particular case. (Al- 
though the Minister for Iceland is declared to be responsible 
for his acts, the King's power practically neutralizes this clause.) 
The Althing, called by the King, sits twice a year at Reikjavik, 
the Capital, but only for six weeks, unless prolonged by Royal 
consent. A special session may be called for at the King's pleas- 
ure ; the latter may also prorogue the Althing, but only once a 
year, and for four weeks at a time. The King has power to 
dissolve the Althing, in which case new elections shall be held 
within two months, and the new Assembly shall meet the follow- 
ing year. No decree of the Althing has the force of law with- 
out the King's consent, and if he fail to sign a bill before the 
next session of the boyd, the bill is null and void. The minor 
provisions of this first chapter harmonize with these leading 
features. 

Chapter II. relates to the Constitution of the Althing. It shall 
consist of thirty deputies elected by the people, and six chosen 
by the King. The former hold office during six years, the latter 
retaining their places in case an Assembly should be dissolved. 
The Althing is divided into an upper and a lower house, the 
former composed of the six deputies appointed by the King, and 
six more chosen by the thirty elected members from out their 
own number. The lower house is thus formed by the remaining 
twenty-four members of the latter class. The other clauses of 
this chapter relate to the filling of vacancies and the civil condi- 
tions which make a citizen of Iceland eligible to election as a 
member of the Althing. 

Chapter III. defines the legislative functions of the two houses 
and their cooperative action. The regular Althing shall meet on 
the first work-day in July (unless the King orders otherwise), 
in Rejkiavik, Each house has the right to introduce and pass 
bills ; also to appoint committees for the investigation of matters 
of special interest, such committees having power to send for 
persons and papers. No tax may be imposed, altered or removed, 
except by course of law. The Althing has entire control of the 
finances of the Island, which it must regulate by a biennial budg- 



Constitutional Government 397 



et, with the condition that the salaries of the Danish function- 
aries (inckiding the six members appointed by the King) take 
precedence of all other expenditure. The regulations in regard 
to the reading of a bill three times, to returning a bill from one 
house to another with amendments, to a quorum of members 
being present, etc., are similar to the parliamentary laws of other 
countries, and need not be repeated. Two-thirds of the mem- 
bers of either House constitute a quorum, however, it will always 
be possible for four of the King's deputies to prevent any legis- 
lation not agreeable to Denmark, by their simple absence. 

Chapter IV. contains clauses regulating the judiciary powers. 

Chapter V. provides for the State Church, the "Evangelical 
Lutheran," but guarantees liberty of conscience to all the inhab- 
itants. 

Chapter VI. embraces provisions relating to the freedom of 
the subject, the sanctity of home and private property, the free- 
dom of the press, freedom of association and assembly, rights 
of municipal government, taxation, and privileges of the nobility, 
which last, together with their titles, are henceforth abolished. 

Chapter VII. and last provides that propositions with a view 
to amending or adding to the present Constitution may be intro- 
duced either at a regular or an extraordinary session of the Al- 
thing. If such a proposition receive the necessary majority in 
both houses, the Althing shall be dissolved forthwith and a new 
election ordered. If the newly elected Althing then accepts the 
same proposition without amendment, and the latter then receives 
the Royal sanction, it comes into force as part and parcel of the 
constitutional law." "Egypt and Iceland in the Year 1874," by 
Bayard Taylor. 



BELGIUM. 

The Constitution of Belgium provides for a constitutional 
hereditary monarchy. Leopold of Saxe-Coburg took the oath 
to maintain the articles set forth in this instrument, which was 
modeled after the liberal French Constitutions of 1791-1830. It 
was adopted October 4th, 1830, after the declaration of inde- 
pendence of Belgium, formerly under King William sovereign 
of the Netherlands. This was formed by a National Congress 
composed of two hundred delegates. It was promulgated Febru- 
ary 7th, 1 83 1, and July 31, Leopold I. was elected King. 

King Leopold died Dec. 17th, 1809, and was succeeded by 
his nephew Albert I. 

Germany has occupied all but a portion of Belgium from Aug., 
1914, after invading the territory of a neutral country not at 



398 Constitutional Government 



was with Germany in violation of treaty agreements thoroughly 
understood with other nations. 

This subject involves many questions in regard to the great 
war problem of the central powers, and France, England, Russia 
and Belgium, and it is too complicated and unsettled to be satis- 
factorily handled in this work. 

It is sufficient to insert a few letters from Belgium's "Gray 
Papers" and England's "White Paper" written at the commence- 
ment of hostilities. It is hoped that Belgium will have her 
country restored to her and that she will get full indemnity. 

Inclosure in No. 12. 

LETTER ADDRESSED BY THE BELGIAN MINISTER IN BERLIN TO M. 
DAVIGNON, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

Berlin, 2d May, 1913. 
M. le Ministre: 

I have the honor of informing you, according to the semi- 
official "Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung," of the declarations 
made in the course of the sitting of 29th April of the Budget 
Committee of the Reichstag by the Secretary of State for Foreign 
Affairs and the Minister of War with reference to Belgian neu- 
trality. 

"A member of the Social Democratic Party said: 'In Belgium 
the approach of a Franco-German war is viewed with appre- 
hension, because it is feared that Germany will not respect Bel- 
gian neutrality.' 

"Herr von Jagow, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, re- 
plied: 'The neutrality of Belgium is determined by international 
conventions, and Germany is resolved to respect these conven- 
tions.' 

"This declaration did not satisfy another member of the Social 
Democratic Party. Herr von Jagow observed that he had noth- 
ing to add to the clear statement which he had uttered with ref- 
erence to the relations between Germany and Belgium. 

"In reply to further interrogations from a member of the 
Social Democratic Party, Herr von Heeringen, Minister of War, 
stated : 'Belgium does not play any part in the justification of 
the German scheme of military reorganization ; the scheme is 
justified by the position of matters in the East. Germany will 
not lose sight of the fact that Belgian neutrality is guaranteed 
by international treaties.' 

"A member of the same party having again referred to Bel- 
gium, Herr von Jagow again pointed out that his declaration 
regarding Belgium was sufficiently clear." I am, &c., 

(Signed) baron beyens. 



Constitutional Government 399 



No. 13. 

TELEGRAM ADDRESSED BY COUNT DE LALAING, BELGIAN MINISTER IN 
LONDON, TO M. DAVIGNON, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

London, ist August, 1914. 
England has separately inquired of France and Germany as 
to whether they would respect Belgian territory in the event of 
their adversary not violating it. The German reply is awaited. 



France has accepted. 



No. 14. 



TELEGRAM ADDRESSED BY BARON BEYENS, BELGIAN MINISTER IN 
BERLIN, TO M. DAVIGNON, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

Berlin, ist August, 1914. 
The British Ambassador has been instructed to ask the Minis- 
ter for Foreign Affairs whether in the event of war Germany 
would respect Belgian neutrality and the Minister appears to 
have said that he cannot reply to this question. 

No. 18. 

TELEGRAM ADDRESSED BY M. EYSCHEN, PRESIDENT OF THE LUXEM- 
BURG GOVERNMENT, TO M. DAVIGNON, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN 
AFFAIRS. 

Luxemburg, 2d August, 1914. 

I have the honor to bring the following facts to the knowledge 
of your Excellency: Sunday, 2d August, very early, according 
to information which reached the Grand Ducal Government at 
this moment, German troops have entered Luxemburg territory 
by the Wasserbillig and Remich bridges, proceeding more espe- 
cially toward the south of the country and toward the town of 
Luxemburg, capital of the Grand Duchy. A certain number 
of armored trains with troops and ammunition have been for- 
warded by the railway from Wasserbillig to Luxemburg, where 
they are expected to arrive at any moment. These facts imply 
acts which are manifestly contrary to the neutrality of the Grand 
Duchy, guaranteed by the Treaty of London of 1867. The Lux- 
emburg Government has not failed to protest energetically to the 
representative of his Majesty the German Emperor in Luxem- 
burg against this aggression. An identical protest will be trans- 
mitted to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Berlin. 

(Signed) EyschEn, 

The Minister of State, President of the Government. 



400 Constitutional Government 



No. 22. 

NOTE HANDED IN BY M. DAVIGNON, MINISTER EOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 
TO HFRR VON BElvOW SALESKE, GERMAN MINISTER. 

Brussels, 3d August, 1914. 
(7 o'clock in the morning.) 

By the note of the 2d August, 1914, the German Government 
has made known that according to certain intelligence the French 
forces intend to march on the Meuse via Givet and Namur and 
that Belgium, in spite of her good will, would not be able with- 
out help to beat off an advance of the French troops. 

The German Government felt it to be its duty to forestall this 
attack and to violate Belgian territory. Under these conditions 
Germany proposes to the King's Government to take up a friend- 
ly attitude, and undertakes at the moment of peace to guarantee 
the integrity of the Kingdom and of her possessions in their 
whole extent. The note adds that if Belgium raises difficulties 
to the forward march of the German troops Germany will be 
compelled to consider her as an enemy and to leave the later 
settlement of the two States toward one another to the decision 
of arms. 

This note caused profound and painful surprise to the King's 
Government. 

The intentions which it attributed to France are in contradic- 
tion with the express declarations which were made to us on the 
1st August, in the name of the Government of the Republic. 

Moreover, if, contrary to our expectations a violation of Bel- 
gian neutrality were to be committed by France, Belgium would 
fulfill all her international duties, and her army would offer the 
most vigorous opposition to the invader. 

The treaties of 1839, confirmed by the treaties of 1870, estab- 
lish the independence and the neutrality of Belgium under the 
guarantee of the Powers, and particularly of the Government 
of his Majesty the King of Prussia. 

Belgium has always been faithful to her international obliga- 
tions ; she has fulfilled her duties in a spirit of loyal impartiality ; 
she has neglected no effort to maintain her neutrality or to make 
it respected. 

The attempt against her independence with which the German 
Government threatens her would constitute a flagrant violation 
of international law. No strategic interest justifies the violation 
of that law. 

The Belgian Government would, by accepting the propositions 
which are notified to her, sacrifice the honor of the nation while 
at the same time betraying her duties toward Europe. 



Constitutional Government 401 

Conscious of the part Belgium has played for more than eighty 
years in the civilization of the world, she refuses to believe that 
the independence of Belgium can be preserved only at the ex- 
pense of the violation of her neutrality. 

If this hope were disappointed the Belgian Government has 
firmly resolved to repulse by every means in her power any attack 
upon her rights. 

No. 23. 

TELEGRAM ADDRESSED BY M. DAVIGNON, MINISTER EOR FOREIGN 
AFFAIRS, TO THE BELGIAN MINISTERS AT ST. PETERSBURG, BER-. 
LIN, LONDON, PARIS, VIENNA, THE HAGUE. 

Brussels, 3d August, 1914. 
Last night at 7 o'clock Germany delivered a note proposing 
friendly neutrality permitting of free passage through our territory, 
promising the maintenance of the independence of the kingdom 
and of her possessions at the conclusion of peace, threatening in 
case of refusal to treat Belgium as an enemy, time limit within 
which to reply fixed at twelve hours. We have replied that the 
attack on our neutrality would be a flagrant violation of interna- 
tional law. The acceptance of the German proposal would sacri- 
fice the honor of the nation. Conscious of her duty, Belgium 
is firmly resolved to repulse aggression by every means. 

(Signed) davignon. 

No. 154. 

SIR F. VILLIERS TO SIR EDWARD GREY. 

(Received Aug. 4.) 
(Telegraphic.) 

Brussels, Aug. 4, 1914- 
German Minister has this morning addressed note to Minister 
for Foreign Affairs stating that as Belgian Government have 
declined the well-intentioned proposals submitted to them by the 
Imperial Government, the latter will, deeply to their regret, be 
compelled to carry out, if necessary by force of arms, the meas- 
ures considered indispensable in view of the French menaces. 

No. 155. 

SIR EDWARD GREY TO SIR F. VILLIERS. 

(Telegraphic.) 

London, Foreign Office, Aug. 4, 1914. 
You should inform Belgian Government that if pressure is 
applied to them by Germany to induce them to depart from 



402 Constitutional Government 



neutrality, His Majesty's Government expect that they will re- 
sist by any means in their power, and that His Majesty's Govern- 
ment will support them in offering such resistance, and that His 
Majesty's Government in this event are prepared to join Russia 
and France, if desired, in offering to the Belgian Government 
at once common action for the purpose of resisting use of force 
by Germany against them, and a guarantee to maintain their in- 
dependence and integrity in future years. 

No. 156. 

SIR EDWARD GREY TO SIR E. GOSCHEN. 

(Telegraphic.) 

London, Foreign Office, Aug. 4, 1914. 
I continue to receive numerous complaints from British firms 
as to the detention of their ships at Hamburg, Cuxhaven, and 
other German ports. This action on the part of the German 
authorities is totally unjustifiable. It is in direct contravention 
of international law and of the assurances given to your Excel- 
lency by the Imperial Chancellor. You should demand the imme- 
diate release of all British ships if such release has not yet been 
given. 

No. 157. 

GERMAN FOREIGN SECRETARY TO PRINCE LICHNOWSKY, 

(Communicated by German Embassy, August 4.) 

(Telegraphic.) 

Berlin, August 4, 1914. 
Please dispel any mistrust that may subsist on the part of the 
British Government with regard to our intentions by repeating 
most positively formal assurance that, even in the case of armed 
conflict with Belgium, Germany will, under no pretense what- 
ever, annex Belgian territory. Sincerity of this declaration is 
borne out by fact that we solemnly pledged our word to Holland 
strictly to respect her neutrality. It is obvious that we could not 
profitably annex Belgian territory without making at the same 
time territorial acquisitions at expense of Holland. Please im- 
press upon Sir E. Grey that German army could not be exposed 
to French attack across Belgium, which was planned according 
to absolutely unimpeachable information. Germany had conse- 
quently to disregard Belgian neutrality, it being for her a ques- 
tion of life or death to prevent French advance. 



Constitutional Government 403 

No. 158. 

SIR F. VILLIERS TO SIR EDWARD GREY. 

(Received August 4.) 
(Telegraphic.) 

Brussels, Aug. 4, 1914. 
Military Attache has been informed at War Office that Ger- 
man troops have entered Belgian territory, and that Liege has 
been summoned to surrender by small party of Germans, who, 
however, were repulsed. 

No. 159. 

SIR EDWARD GREY TO SIR E. GOSCHEN. 

(Telegraphic.) 

London, Foreign Office, Aug. 4, 1914. 

We hear that Germany has addressed note to Belgian Minister 
for Foreign Affairs stating that German Government will be 
compelled to carry out, if necessary by force of arms, the meas- 
ures considered indispensable. 

We are also informed that Belgian territory has been violated 
at Gemmenich. 

In these circumstances, and in view of the fact that Germany 
declined to give the same assurance respecting Belgium as France 
gave last week in reply to our request made simultaneously at 
Berlin and Paris, we must repeat that request, and ask that a 
satisfactory reply to it and to my telegram of this morning* be 
received here by 12 o'clock tonight. If not, you are instructed 
to ask for your passports, and to say that his Majesty's Govern- 
ment feel bound to take all steps in their power to uphold the 
neutrality of Belgium and the observance of a treaty to which 
Germany is as much a party as ourselves. 

*See No. 153. 

SECOND BRITISH "WHITE PAPER."' 

Dispatch from His Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin Respecting 
the Rupture of Diplomatic Relations With the German 

Government. 

SIR E. GOSCHEN TO SIR EDWARD GREY. 

I then said that I should like to go and see the Chancellor, as 
it might be, perhaps, the last time I should have an opportunity of 
seeing him. He begged me to do so. I found the Chancellor 
very agitated. His Excellency at once began a harangue, which 
lasted for about 20 minutes. He said that the step taken by His 



404 Constitutional Government 



Majesty's Government was terrible to a degree; just for a word 
— "neutrality," a word which in war time had so often been disre- 
garded — just for a scrap of paper Great Britain ivas going to 
make war on a kindred nation zvho desired nothing better than 
to he friends with her. All his efforts in that direction had been 
rendered useless by this last terrible step, and the policy to which, 
as 1 knew, he had devoted himself since his accession to ofifice 
had tumbled down like a house of cards. What we had done 
was unthinkable ; it was like striking a man from behind while 
he was fighting for his life against two assailants. He held 
Great Britain responsible for all the terrible events that might 
happen. I protested strongly against that statement, and said 
that, in the same way as he and Herr von Jagow wished me to 
understand that for strategical reasons it was a matter of life 
and death to Germany to advance through Belgium and violate 
the latter's neutrality, so I would wish him to understand that 
it was, so to speak, a matter of "life and death" for the honour 
of Great Britain that she should keep her solemn engagement 
to do her utmost to defend Belgium's neutrality if attacked. 
That solemn compact simply had to be kept, or what confidence 
could any one have in engagements given by Great Britain in 
the future? The Chancellor said, "But at what price will that 
compact have been kept. Has the British Government thought 
of that?" I hinted to his Excellency as plainly as 1 could that 
fear of consequences could hardly be regarded as an excuse for 
breaking solemn engagements, but his Excellency was so excited, 
so evidently overcome by the news of our action, and so little 
disposed to hear reason, that I refrained from adding fuel to the 
flame by further argument. As I was leaving he said that the 
blow of Great Britain joining Germany's enemies was all the 
greater that almost up to the last moment he and his Government 
had been working with us and supporting our efforts to maintain 
peace between Austria and Russia. I said that this was part 
of the tragedy which saw the two nations fall apart just at the 
moment when the relations between them had been more friendly 
and cordial than they had been for years. Unfortunately, not- 
withstanding our efforts to maintain peace between Russia and 
Austria, the war had spread and had brought us face to face 
with a situation which, if we held to our engagements, we could 
not possibly avoid, and which unfortunately entailed our separa- 
tion from our late fellow workers. He would readily under- 
stand that no one regretted this more than I. 






Constitutional Government 405 

EXCERPTS FROM CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM. 
TITLE II. BELGIAN CITIZENS AND THEIR RIGHTS. 

Art. 4. Belgian nationality is acquired, retained, and lost ac- 
cording to regulations established by the civil law. 

The present constitution and the other laws relating to political 
rights determine what other conditions are necessary for the 
exercise of these rights. 

Art. 6. There shall be no distinction of classes in the state. 
All Belgians are equal before the law ; they alone are admissible 
to civil and military oflfices, with such exceptions as may be estab- 
lished by law for particular cases. 

Art. 7. Individual liberty is guaranteed. 

No one may be prosecuted except in such cases provided for 
by law and in the form prescribed. 

Except when one is taken in the commission of an offense 
no one may be arrested without a warrant issued by a magistrate, 
which ought to be shown at the time of arrest, or at the latest 
within twenty- four hours thereafter. 

TITLE in. CONCERNING POWERS. 

Art. 25. All powers emanate from the people. 

They shall be exercised in the manner established by the con- 
stitution. 

Art. 26. The legislative power shall be exercised collectively 
by the King, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. 

CHAPTER I. THE HOUSES. 

Art. 32. The members of the two Houses shall represent the 
nation, and not the province alone, nor the subdivision which 
elected them. 

SECTION I. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

Art. 47. The members of the House of Representatives shall 
be chosen by direct election under the following regulations : 

One vote is allotted to citizens who have reached the age of 
twenty-five years, resident for at least one year in the same com- 
mune and who are not otherwise excluded by law. 

One additional vote is allotted in consideration of any of the 
following conditions : 

( I ) Having reached the age of thirty-five years, being mar- 
ried or a widower with legitimate offspring, and paying to the 
state a tax of not less than five francs as a householder, unless 
exempt on account of his profession. 



406 Constitutional Government 



.SECTION II. THE SENATE. 

Art. 53. The Senate shall be composed : 

(i) Of members elected according to the population of each 
province, conformably to Art. 47; though the law may require 
that the electors shall have reached the age of thirty years. The 
provisions of Art. 48 are applicable to the election of senators. 

(2) Of members elected by the provincial councils, to the 
number of two for each province having less than 500,000 in- 
habitants, of three for each province having from 500,000 to 
1,000,000 inhabitants, and of four for each province having more 
than 1,000,000 inhabitants. 

CHAPTER II. THE KING AND THE MINISTERS. 
SECTION I. THE KING. 

Art. 60. The constitutional powers of the King are heredity 
in the direct descendants, natural and legitimate, of His Majes- 
ty Leopold-George-Christian-Frederick of Saxe-Coburg, from 
male to male in the order of primogeniture, and to the perpetual 
exclusion of females and of their descendants. 

(The prince who shall marry without the consent of the King, 
or of those who in his absence exercise his authority as provided 
by the constitution, shall forfeit his rights to the crown). 

(Nevertheless, with the consent of the two Houses, he may 
be relieved of this forfeiture by the King or by those who, in his 
absence exercise his authority according to the constitution). 

SECTION II. THE MINISTERS. 

Art. 86. No person shall be a minister unless he is a Belgian 
by birth, or has received full naturalization. 

Art. 87. No person of the royal family shall be a minister. 

CHAPTER III. THE JUDICIAL POV^ER. 

Art. 92. Actions which involve questions of civil right be- 
long exclusively to the jurisdiction of the courts. 

Art. 93. Actions which involve questions of political rights 
belong to the jurisdiction of the courts, except as otherwise de- 
termined by law. 

TITLE VI. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Art. 125. The Belgian nation adopts for its colors red, yellow 
and black, and for the coat of arms of the kingdom, the Belgian 
lion, with the motto, "Union Gives Strength." 

Art. 126. The city of Brussels is the capital of Belgium and 
the seat of government. 

The full text of this constitution can be found in "Modern 
Constitutions" by Walter F. Dodd, Chicago University Press. 



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